The following hit produced a thunderclap as the hammer stuck in the cracked stone was turned into a giant nail that shattered the Golem's protective shell and revealed its power core.
The construct had managed to move it out from harm's way in the nick of time. The power core was spherical purple mana crystal as big as a basketball, with its entire surface covered with blue runes of power.
"Darn it. I missed it by an inch!" Morok said.
Lith had been able to see it moving from the Golem's chest down to its abdomen thanks to Life Vision, so he already knew that Morok's plan would fail. He used spirit magic to keep the Golem away from the ground and from the materials it needed to fix the hole in its chest.
Earth was the second slowest element, so the enchanted sand would need some time before reaching its master. A time that neither of the Rangers was willing to give. The hammers had already returned into Morok's hands and Lith used spirit magic to slow the Golem's arms long enough to give his companion the time for a second attempt.
The Golem opened all of its compartments and released several Alchemical tools to protect its core. At the same time, it activated the strongest spell in its arsenal, the tier five Earth Splitter.
Lith saw the massive amount of earth element build up near the construct and rejoiced for it. The power core's light had become significantly duller after conjuring such a big spell.
The only problem was that the Golem had resorted to a low blow as a last-ditch effort. The Alchemical tools it was using were a darkness based toxic gas and the same combination of air and fire wands the other Golem had used earlier.
"Crap, that thing wants to suffocate us!" Morok said after noticing that only a few fire blasts were aimed at them while the rest destroyed the biggest moss deposits in the cave.
Everyone had avoided using fire magic because after the Golem's initial attack the air in the cave was already thin. If the oxygen dropped any further, no amount of light magic could save the expedition team from a slow death by asphyxiation.
'Do you want to play dirty? Fine by me!' Lith had no choice but freeing the Golem from his spirit magic so that the mana strand could snap the wands grafted inside its arms in half.
Leaving them exposed for so long was a huge risk since alchemical magic harmed its user as well as the enemy. Lith had avoided that tactic because the resulting explosion was bound to be huge, but at that point worrying about it was useless.
He could only cut his losses and hope for the best.
Morok was about to curse at Lith for letting go of the enemy and making it impossible for him to deliver the deathblow when the Golem disappeared in a burst of flames.
The chain reaction destroyed the construct's limbs, neutralized the noxious gas, and cracked the power core. Just a scratch, but enough to dispel Earth Splitter and make the Golem fall limp.
Morok turned the curses into praise as his hammers' combined strike shattered the power core. The purple sphere exploded, releasing a pinkish goo.
"Is it dead or just playing dead?" Lith asked to both Solus and Morok.
"Only one way to know." Ranger Eari moved his hand and the Golem disappeared inside his dimensional amulet.
"It's dead. If there was any active spell, I wouldn't have been able to store it."
"I know that too, you idiot? Why do you think I kept myself at safe distance? What if it self-destructed?" Lith was seconds away from strangling his fellow Ranger.
"Big deal. There's so little oxygen left that I'm barely able to breathe. Worst case scenario, the explosion would have raised some dust." Morok said as breathing was just a hobby for him.
"And killed us all by consuming our last air. I- You- Let's help the others!" Lith would have gladly murdered Morok on the spot, but he had yet to understand Ranger Eari's real nature and he needed all the help he could get to defeat the three remaining Golems.
Once Lith had removed the Earth Blocking array from the field, the rest of the group had quickly gained the upper hand. One of the three remaining Golems had been heavily damaged by Syndra's spell and its power core was now partially exposed.
The animated sand quickly went to fill the empty shoulder socket, hiding the power core from the enemy's sight.
"They have the same design." Professor Neshal, the Master Warden, said after analyzing them with her spell. "Each one of them can use only one Elemental Blocking array. The other two can respectively stop air and fire magic.
"Only the one the Rangers are taking care of can block earth magic."
That piece of news was the only silver lining of their situation. Darkness and light magic were useless against constructs, water magic was still sealed, and fire magic was currently a suicidal option.
Even though they were barely needed to move thanks to the defensive formation blocking the Golems' attacks, the whole group was gasping for air.
Quylla was sick and tired of being a spectator, helplessly being forced to rely on others for her own survival and for that of the people she loved.
'If I get out of here alive, I swear I'll learn at least one offensive specialization.' She thought. Her rage and self-loathing fueled her brain, pushing it to top gear in search of a way of making the difference.
"All the non-Professors, come with me if you want to live!" She said before rushing to one of the few spots of the cave that hadn't been ravaged by the flames or by the fight.
The Assistants and Phloria's soldiers all thought she had gone mad from the lack of oxygen, yet they followed Quylla nonetheless. They were all ill-equipped to face Golems.
Their situation was so dire that only specific tier five spells could be helpful, whereas most mages would focus on darkness and fire because they were the elements of destruction.
The Professors, instead, not only did they have a wide range of spells at their disposal, but also being Forgemasters, they all had several masterpieces at hand. Yondra focused on the injured Golem while the other Professors took care of the remaining two constructs.
Being unable to bring the defensive array down, the Golems conjured several small flames all around the barrier to quickly consume the remaining air. Their protocols included that strategy because it was all part of the Odi's plan to defend their facility.
The fungal creature had been enslaved to both defend the city and keep the moss at a minimum so that any life form attempting a siege would be easily exterminated.
"Enough with your cheap tactics!" Professor Neshal threw several red mana crystals in the air. The gemstones surrounded the two undamaged Golems and formed two concentric circles before exploding.
The magical forces released generated a powerful tornado that enveloped the magical constructs, making them smash against each other and the cave's walls as if they were trapped in a makeshift blender.
To escape from the death-trap, a Golem activated its Air Blocking array, allowing them to return safely to the ground.
"Do you realize that now we have only the earth element left to fight?" Gaakhu asked.
"Please, like any sane mage would waste mana for a spell that those things could block with a thought. Besides, as that obnoxious brat would say, it's only proper etiquette to use earth magic in a battle between fossils."
