"We have to find a golem," Aren said as they sprinted forward.

"A golem? Why?" Leon asked.

"Because after I killed that maid, I got a clue," Aren replied. "And the clue pointed to a golem."

"We're getting clues, that's good," Leon said.

"The golem we met spawned after we triggered some kind of magic circle," Aiden added.

"Guys, watch out!" Kira shouted. She had been paying attention while they spoke.

Their focus snapped forward just in time.

A blade sliced through the air, spinning rapidly. Its metal gleamed under the candlelight as it passed inches from their faces, so polished they could briefly see their own reflections in it.

They looked ahead and saw a figure standing there.

His skin was a pale pink, his nose curled into something resembling a pig's snout, and his head was completely bald. He wore no clothes except for a leather apron wrapped around his waist, stained with blood and bits of flesh.

Several different blades were embedded into his shoulders. Blood streamed from every wound, yet he moved as though he felt nothing. In his hands were two blood-soaked hatchets.

"You have to be joking," Leon muttered.

"Can't anything look even remotely normal in this place?" Kira asked.

The man let out a deep grunt. Without warning, he hurled one of the hatchets.

The weapon tore through the air, but they all managed to dodge it.

BOOM!

He exploded forward with terrifying speed, already bringing the second hatchet down in a brutal arc. Aiden reacted instantly, intercepting the strike.

Clang!

The blades collided. Aiden blocked it, but in the next moment, he coughed up a mouthful of blood and staggered backward.

The man stretched out his hand. The thrown hatchet flew back to him as if summoned. He caught it cleanly, spread his arms wide, and let out a thunderous roar right in Aiden's face before swinging both hatchets down at once.

A metal plate snapped into place at the last second, blocking the blows. Another metal plate wrapped around Aiden's leg and yanked him backward toward Leon, who grabbed him and pulled him clear.

Kira followed up immediately, launching a volley of ice lances. They slammed into the man's face, shattering on impact and forcing him to recoil as his vision was obscured.

Aren seized the opening.

He lunged forward, leapt onto the wall, took two running steps, then pushed off hard, coming down with a full-force Superman punch straight into the man's head. The impact sent the creature reeling to the side.

Aren landed and didn't pause. He thrust his hands forward and unleashed a surge of black lightning directly into the man's chest. The blast hurled him backward, lightning tearing deep into his body, painful, devastating, but not fatal.

As the four of them pressed the attack, something else moved.

A chef dressed in white, dagger in hand, appeared out of nowhere behind Kira, rushing toward her back.

Aren's shadow sense picked it up instantly.

He hadn't felt this man enter the shadow sense range. That meant only one thing. He had appeared out of thin air.

Aren snapped his head around, eyes locking onto the chef and Kira. He wouldn't make it in time.

Then,

From the darkness, a brilliant flash of light erupted.

A blade of pure light cut through the air, slicing cleanly through the chef's extended arm.

"Arghhhhhhh!"

Blood sprayed as the chef screamed. In the next instant, he vanished, gone as if he had never existed.

The one who had attacked stepped out of the shadows.

The man in the white cloak.

Aren knew the man had been following them for a while, so he wasn't shocked to see him.

"Rooooar!"

The man let out a terrifying roar and pushed himself to his feet. Unlike the maid, he couldn't heal, so the wound remained there. He gripped both hatchets and stabbed them straight into his own shoulders, grunting through the pain. Then he ripped out the largest blade embedded there, a massive meat cleaver nearly three and a half feet long, and grasped it with both hands.

Raising it high above his head, he slammed it into the ground.

A terrifying sword arc burst forth. It was invisible, but they could see its path as it carved through the darkness and tore open the ground, leaving a massive gash in the marble.

They all moved instantly, leaping aside as the arc passed through the space they had just occupied.

The moment it cleared, Aren bolted forward.

The man wrenched the cleaver free and lunged again, swinging with full force. The blade carved deeply into the walls, leaving smooth, brutal cuts. Aren slid underneath the attack, sparks flying from his hands as they scraped against the marble floor. The instant he cleared it, he sprang upward and unleashed a blast of lightning point-blank at the man's head.

The impact knocked the man back.

He roared in pain, his face scorched and smoking, eyes burning with pure rage. Snarling, he tore out another cleaver from his body, slightly smaller than the first, and charged Aren.

Aren raised his wolf guard and took the blow head-on.

Pain exploded through his arm. His body went numb, but he gritted his teeth and pushed back.

Seeing that Aren hadn't budged, the man went berserk, unleashing a relentless barrage of attacks. Aren blocked every single one.

That was when Leon saw his opening.

He formed an extremely sharp metal sword, focusing all his power into it.

"Arghhhhhhh!"

With everything he had, he launched it forward. The blade tore through the air almost silently and pierced straight through the man's neck, ripping his head clean off his body. The severed head spun through the air and hit the ground, while the body continued its swing toward Aren for a split second before collapsing.

The corpse crashed to the floor.

Aren watched the blood seep out before turning to Leon.

"Good work," he said casually.

He stepped away from the body. "Did you get a clue?" Aren asked.

Leon hesitated for a brief moment. "Uh… yeah. I did. It says golem as well. Same as yours."

"Golem?" Aren clicked his tongue. "That's useless."

He noticed Leon's hesitation, but decided not to dwell on it for now.

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