Tham! Szzzzss!

The white-haired girl slammed her icy fist into the golem's left leg, frost bursting out in sharp crystal patterns. A thick layer of ice spider-webbed over the rocky limb, freezing it in place mid-step. The golem lurched, its advance halted—if only for a heartbeat.

Small cracks began spreading across the ice.

Crick.

Crack.

CRACK.

With a sound like shattering glass, the frozen layer exploded apart, shards glittering in the air before falling uselessly to the ground.

The golem immediately turned its featureless head toward the girl—just as she lifted her other fist, icy mist spiraling as she aimed at its opposite leg.

She was a second too slow.

Without any delay, the golem raised its massive right leg. Despite its blocky build, the movement was frighteningly fast. Its stony foot crashed into her abdomen with brutal force.

The girl's eyes widened—caught completely off guard—as the kick launched her like a projectile. She smashed through a nearby tree; the thin trunk snapped with a sickening crack, and she tumbled across the ground like a rag doll. Blood sprayed from her lips mid-roll, and by the time she skidded to a stop, her limbs were limp in the dirt.

"R… Ryn!" Enra's voice trembled, barely more than a weak gasp.

"Ryn!" The blue-haired girl who had been approaching Dale froze, then screamed her sister's name in panic.

"No… Ryn…" The twin sister, pale and shaking, could only stare in horror at the unmoving body.

"RYN!!!" Dale roared, fueled by fury and fear. His voice cracked the air as he ignored every injury, every warning from his battered body, and charged straight toward the golem. Stony patterns began crawling over his fist.

[Rock Fist]!

Dale blurred forward, covering nearly thirty meters in a blink. His fist swung back, coated in dense, translucent stone layers, ready to smash through anything in his way.

He gathered every ounce of strength he had—greenish veins bulged across his forehead from strain, one blood vessel in his eye bursting and turning half his pupil crimson. He slammed his fist down toward the glowing white core embedded in the golem's chest—its presumed weak point.

But the golem was no mindless lump of rock.

With an eerily fluid twist, it shifted its body and threw its circular, featureless head directly into the path of the incoming blow—sacrificing it intentionally.

Dale's fist struck the stone "head" with explosive force.

BOOM!

The head shattered into countless fragments, detonating outward with a spray of debris. The golem staggered backward several meters, its frame shuddering from the impact—but otherwise unharmed where it mattered.

It had chosen to sacrifice the part that affected its combat ability the least.

Dale's rage only flared hotter.

His other fist hardened, translucent rock surging over it as he continued the assault without hesitation. He launched another explosive punch, aiming to crush the golem completely this time.

But the golem wasn't done adapting.

Unable to sacrifice another limb to protect its core, it chose instead to strike back. Its right fist swung up and forward in a perfect counterattack.

BAM!

Their fists collided.

The impact burst outward in a circular shockwave. Dust erupted from the ground, air pressure rippling sharply through the clearing. The golem's rocky knuckles cracked under the force—fractures zigzagging across its stony surface.

Dale, however, didn't falter.

His face was savage, twisted by fury and fear. His breath came in ragged snarls. His eyes—one bloodshot red—shone with barely restrained madness.

He couldn't accept it.

He wouldn't accept it.

Not when Ryn had been beaten so brutally in his presence and hovered on the thin, fraying line between life and death.

With a swift motion, he slid forward—darting past the incoming rocky fist that thundered toward the golem's frame. He twisted sharply, grabbed the cracked stone arm with both hands, and, bracing his shoulders, applied brute pressure against the wrist joint.

Fisszz—Tlack!

The rock arm snapped with a crisp, brutal crack as Dale roared, pouring every ounce of strength into the break.

Suddenly—

A gleam of bluish light streaked toward the golem's remaining arm, which was reaching out to seize Dale.

Shhing!

A shallow cut etched across the stone limb; the area dampened as the water blade dispersed, but the golem managed to block the strike, preventing it from cleaving deeper.

The shot—fired by the blue-haired girl—had at least halted the grab.

Dale didn't waste a heartbeat.

Using the brief distraction, he let the broken rock fist drop with a thud, pivoted on his heel, and lunged—his [Rock Fist] still coating his hand in translucent, hardened layers. His target: the white pulsing core.

Only a few meters.

Only one chance.

He roared and drove his fist forward with everything he had.

And the punch connected.

THANG!

But instead of shattering, a white energy shield materialized—shaped like a miniature turtle shell—just large enough to cover the core. The force of Dale's strike bled into the surrounding stone, spiderweb cracks racing outward with the core at their center.

A chill crept up Dale's spine. Something was wrong.

His instincts screamed a moment before it happened.

The force he had unleashed slammed back into him, equal in magnitude.

He was hurled through the air—

back to the very same spot he had dashed from—

and crashed spine-first into the same tree.

This time the trunk dented inward from the impact, leaves raining down like green snow.

The turtle-shell shield around the core fractured… then shattered entirely—proving it was a single-use lifesaving ability of the golem.

But that didn't matter now.

Dale couldn't fight anymore.

He slid off the crushed trunk and collapsed to the ground, one knee and one hand pressing feebly against the dirt as violent coughs racked his body.

Blood flooded out of his mouth.

Then chunks.

Pieces of internal organs spilled onto the ground as he convulsed, his vision blurring at the edges.

"R-run away, Lyss..." He said, trying to make himself stand straight.

"Take others...I-I will hold it back."

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