All of a sudden, 4 large, long and nearly identical scorpion tails pierced through the ground like it was nothing.
Will and the Golems were caught off guard, as they expected the tails to come through the boulder blocking the entrance, not through the floor.
3 of the tails pierced 3 different Golem's while the fourth tail grazed the Golem's chest. All 3 Golem's were thrown back due to the great force that the tails carried.
Unlike before, every single fighter Golem was now made of better metal than before, titanium, and now the tails could only pierce the Golem's body by a few centimeters, which was an improvement to before where the tails could leave large holes on every Golem without much effort.
Not only were the Golem's sturdier but they were also lighter making them faster than before.
One of the Golem's got a hold of one of the scorpion's tails and held it in a tight embrace, but the problem with being lighter than before is that the tail was violently jerking everywhere as the Golem holding the tail was being flailed around hitting the cave. The tail was stuck in its body while the other three tails were free.
*BANG* *BANG* *BANG*
All Golems were quick to act. Some shot the tails which most of the shots missed due to the tails moving a lot and being too thin to hit. Others began using their melee weapons to attack the tails but some Golems were pushed back with great force.
Will was also shooting and missing most of his shots. Will wondered why these scorpion tails were fighting, revenge perhaps? If so, it's not doing a good job unlike before. They're just flailing around destroying chunks of the cave.
Then, he noticed a great amount of rubble was falling down from the roof of the cave. Cracks were forming and large pieces of rubble were falling at a fast rate.
With the tails violently moving everywhere hitting not just his Golems but the cave, and also his Golems shooting and missing, it can only lead to one thing: the cave will collapse.
"Golem!" Will said out loud.
"I just noticed as well, Master!" The advanced Golem said, and immediately all ranged Golems stopped shooting. They threw themselves at the tails to immobilize them. They used whatever they could before the cave would collapse.
One tail was barely moving with multiple Golems pinning it down. Then the advanced Golem grabbed an enchanted titanium shovel, jumped up high, and impaled the tail right where he could see the tail exiting the ground, cutting the tail off completely.
Blue blood squirted everywhere similar to a Kill Bill movie. As the tail retracted violently back into the hole leaving a trail of blue blood.
The other 3 tails flinched but moved even more violently as if they could feel the pain. This showed Will that this wasn't multiple long tailed scorpions, but perhaps one was controlling these tails.
The other Golems tried to destroy or pin the other tails, but it was moving so unpredictably fast and pushing the Golems far away.
Seeing his advanced Golem cut off that tail with a shovel, Will got an idea.
Will saw some of his Golems carry a huge round shield, a few others carried a heater shield, which is a shield that people used in medieval times and it one of his favorite shield designs.
He purposefully made the heater shields have thin but sharp edges, so his Golems could use it as a sharp weapon as well as for defending. Best part about these shields is that they were also made out of titanium, as well as enchanted with the best enchants.
Using the {Builder's touch} gloves, Will yanked the heater shield from one of the Golems hands, threw the shield with perfect accuracy at one of the tails, severing part of its tail. In reality, Will didn't have good accuracy since he is still relatively new using his gloves, he just got lucky.
The other two remaining tails stopped moving and stretched out as if the pain was too much to handle. Seeing this as an opportune moment, every Golem charged at the tails. The closest one was pinned down while the other one, while still violently moving, was trying to retreat.
"Whatever it takes, destroy those tails!" Will commanded his Golems.
The pinned down tail was met with cuts and stabs with swords, crushed with hammers, while trying to retreat hurriedly while bleeding. The last tail managed to retreat but not before the tip of the tail was sliced by another Golem carrying a sword.
"Sorry, master. One tail got away."
"Then we'll chase after it."
"As you wish, Master."
Will was the first one to enter the tunnel by removing the boulder blocking the entrance with his pickaxe. He ran as the Golems followed from behind.
The tunnels were very wide, wide enough for giant scorpions to pass through with ease.
The maze reminded him of what an ant colony would have. Was it normal for these giant scorpions to make mazes like this, or was it something else?
In this strange world Will has learned that anything is possible and shouldn't question it.
'I don't know if what I am doing is the correct thing to do. Whatever the thing that attacked me is bleeding heavily, I am certain this is the best move to kill it and to stop it from ever attacking me again!' Will thought.
And as he was deep in his thoughts, he almost failed to notice yet another tail coming at him with such great speed.
"MASTER!" The advanced Golem shouted as he tried to push his master away from harm.
Thanks to the mask Will wore that could let him see in the dark, Will moved his head so that the tail could not penetrate his head, but instead tore through part of his dragon scale mask and sliced his eye off as well as part of his face.
{HP: 4977/5025}
It wasn't that Will didn't have fast reflexes despite seeing the scorpion tail coming straight at him, it's the fact that the tail was moving too fast.
The advanced Golem managed to grab the tail first before the other Golems could as well. The tail tried to retreat but too many Golems were holding it as well as pulling it, it appeared to be a game of tug-of-war.
Few of the Golems were already crushing and cutting it. One of the Golem's shields flew over Will's direction without warning, and Will used the shield to completely cut off the tail. The Golems who were pulling the tail fell to the ground as soon as Will cut it.
"Master!" The advanced Golem said after seeing Will's state.
"I'm fine. Keep going after it." part of Will's left face was very damaged. Not only did the tip of the tail manage to slice part of his face and eye, but shards of the dragon scale armor penetrated through the left side of his face.
Will kept the titanium shield with him this time. It was useful as an object for cutting with his {Builder's touch} gloves on.
At this point Will was too angry to care for himself at the moment. Victoria destroyed his kingdom not long ago, and now this monster or whatever it was was adding fuel to his rage.
Will continued to lead his Golems despite being half-blind. Will took out a healing pill from his inventory and it healed his wounds as he was running, but did not regenerate his eye, and there was a rather large scar on the left side of his face.
After 10 minutes of running, they were led to this large open space. The trail of blood led them to this room and nowhere else.
"Golem, how did the spider Golem not scout this area despite it being 10 minutes away from where our base is?" Will asked. The spider Golem had so much time to scout the maze and could have found this area long ago.
"I did scout this part of the cave, but this open area was not here when I scouted it."
Will trusted his Golem. They don't lie or make excuses, to him at least.
*Splash*
What sounded like water droplets echoed across the room. Will saw where the trail of blood ended. There was a puddle of blood, and the puddle was in the middle of the open space.
Will looked up, and sure enough there was a rather large hole on the roof that was too far for Will and his Golems to reach. The tunnel was dropping drops of blue blood.
"Master, whatever was here escaped by making a tunnel on the roo-"
*Bang* *Bang* *Bang*
Will shot the tunnel 3 times. Will thought something might be hiding as it was pitch black despite having night vision on his broken mask.
There was nothing unfortunately.
"It'll come back. When it does we'll kill it for sure. Let's go back."
Will was confident he could chase after it, but he needed his Golems with him to kill it. If he were to go alone to fight this thing Will thought he might die and lose his items and he had no idea how many of those tails it had.
And although he could mine tunnels for his Golems to chase after this thing, by the time he reached the roof the thing would already be long gone and he would just be wasting his time mindlessly chasing something.
They all returned to base.
Still Will fixed the cave to be sure it doesn't collapse. He has died multiple times from caves collapsing on him when he used to mine for resources. It wasn't something he would want to experience a third time.
While he was building, he told his Golems: "Place a few Golems in the maze acting as guards. Make sure they all have sharp weapons, and a gun with penetrating 5 bullet enchantments."
20 fighter Golems were dispatched and were all placed at different parts of the maze scouting the area. Now that they were all made of titanium the tails couldn't properly destroy those Golems anymore.
Will didn't care about using 20 Golems as watchmen. He could always make more.
The spider Golem was still exploring the tunnel but not very fast. Will send it after the monster since it is the only Golem that could climb.
"Master, I'll let you know if I find anything."
"Wasn't… isn't that an obvious thing to do?"
"It is. But I still think I should let you know."
After making sure the cave wouldn't collapse anymore, Will used the waystone to teleport towards Adaline who was in a secret room, not even Sandra knew of this room.
Adaline was lying down comfortably near the exotic trees. The room glowed a beautiful dark blue color that the exotic trees illuminated.
The exotic trees have two purposes: 1 protect the exotic seed from any threats who will harm or steal it, and 2: make sure to give the seed life. If all the trees die the seed dies as well.
The trees recognized Adaline as a exotic creature and therefore a part of their own, as it was the one who had absorbed an exotic seed giving her that epic exotic transformation.
Sandra would try to comfort Adaline whenever she left the secret room by breaking through the wall, to enjoy the sun. Will would never tell Sandra, or anyone else for that matter, about the exotic seed.
For some reason the exotic trees did not consider Will as a threat, but did once attack Rias, an elf, who had broken into Will's home and accidentally discovered the exotic seed in search to find a cure for her father who is a zombie.
Will knew that these trees protected the seed from threats. And Will thought since he was the one who planted the seed, it didn't recognize him as a threat.
Before arriving he took a regeneration potion which healed his eye completely. It left a few but barely noticeable scars on his face. Will did not care for the scars as once he dies his body will completely erase those scars.
"Hey, girl, how are you doing?" Will sat beside her as he patted her head.
Adaline didn't say anything or even acknowledged Will's existence, almost unresponsive. If it weren't because he could see her HP full, or because her body slowly moved at the rhythm of her voice, Will would have thought she was dead.
Will knew why she was like that. She almost died when Victoria destroyed his kingdom. She was trapped under rubble for hours, weak, and nearly dead while he tried his best to find her.
And most importantly, something Will often forgets about Adaline, she is only a few months old, meaning that she might as well have the mentality of a child who had just gone through a horrifying experience.
Will realized he could never relate to Adaline about this. He can't permanently stay dead, meaning that dying has no meaning to him anymore and it doesn't even make him feel afraid anymore. If anything death felt more of an inconvenience to him, much like playing a video game character who can die but come back.
But the thought of losing Adaline, or Sandra, like how he had lost Alex, made him feel afraid. The ones in his life he wants to protect not because they are weak, but because they mean so much to him.
Will took off his armor to lie beside Adaline so his armor wouldn't make her feel uncomfortable.
Adaline, seeing Will lying beside her made her feel safe and secure. She was still traumatized by the experience, and sometimes being alone made her feel somewhat better, sometimes having someone with you during a dark time makes you feel a whole lot better.
Will had fallen asleep only to wake up hours later not knowing how much time had passed.
Leaving Adaline soundly sleeping in the secret room Will teleported to where his kingdom was.
"Will!" Sandra ran up to him.
"Yes?"
"I've been looking for you, where were you? And what happened to your face?" Sandra noticed the small and barely noticeable scars on his face.
"Nothing that I couldn't handle. Is everything alright?"
Will placed his mask on again. He had spare dragon scales to fix his broken mask.
"The Great Sage came to see you." Sandra was nervous as she said that.
"The Great… where is he?" Will really didn't want to deal anything related with the kingdom, especially not the Great Sage.
"Outside the north gate. He's been sitting there for an hour."
'How long was I asleep for?' Will thought.
"Uh-huh… where was that again?" Will forgot which was the north gate.
Will had built multiple gates for easy access to his kingdom. To not be confused he named his four gates: north, south, east, and west. Will doesn't have a compass installed in him, unlike Sandra who can somehow always tell where is where without relying on a compass.
"Um… that one." Sandra pointed to the north gate.
"Why didn't he come to the kingdom? Can't he fly or teleport?"
"He can but... I don't know. All in know he's waiting for you and is just standing there… menacingly."
"I seriously don't know what I would do without you." Will flew off not before giving her a kiss.
Will landed in front of the Great Sage. Will noticed he was levitating, his feet never touching the ground.
'So much for him standing there menacingly.' Will thought.
"Hello, William." The Great Sage's voice came from the item that he carried in his hand. Since Will had an item that blocked his telepathy, this is the way the Great Sage can communicate with Will.
His voice sounded tired, slow, and with no emotion at all.
"Nice place you got here. Anyhow, I know you had something to do with the horrible weather going on in the kingdom, and I want you to get rid of it."
"How about… no. What are you going to do?" Will asked, not afraid unlike last time.
"Huh… honestly I don't know. Screw it, here, take this."
The Great Sage was going to give Will a long speech, but not wanting to waste time he got to the point and threw Will a storage ring.
Will caught the ring.
"Check the inside of the ring."
Curious, Will checked what the ring carried and it had a note, as well as a bracelet.
"Read the letter." The Great Sage said, impatient.
Confused, Will read the letter. The writing was really neat, Will hadn't seen such neat handwriting other than his own mother's handwriting.
Will skimmed through the letter and it basically said: Victoria is a criminal now and will be charged for killing innocent people, the king is sorry for sending her (not), and lastly included that he should get rid of the thunderclouds asap…
And that was it. It was a short letter.
And the I's had heart-shaped dots instead of regular dots…
Will felt weird seeing those hearts at first, but then realized it must've been a woman writing the letter. At least he hopes it was a woman and not the 300 year old man floating in front of him.
Will checked the bracelet. It was made of gold with some iron in it. The carvings were exquisite and were made of silver.
{Bracelet of power}
{Grants the wearer with a major boost in physical strength}
"What is this… the hell?"
Will wanted to ask why the Great Sage would give him a gift, but found him sleeping and snoring heavily in front of him while floating.
"There's no way you're asleep. Not even my dad falls asleep as fast as you. And of course you're actually asleep." Will commented but there was no response.
"Uh, hello?" Will shouted but The Great Sage was still snoring loudly.
Will flew back to the kingdom, letting the old man rest for now. Old people need their rest.
The Great Sage, who has given up on everything, decided to come here for one reason: to get Will to get rid of the heavy rain falling on the Reyes kingdom for purely personal reasons.
A few hours ago, the Great Sage ordered his favorite food, corn soup, to be delivered to his room.
But fear striked in his heart when someone said that they were out of corn… for the first time in hundreds of years.
As it turns out the heavy rain ruined the kingdom's food supply and people were eating through the rations, especially the hungry heroes who did not know the meaning of holding back or dieting.
Majority of the heroes liked popcorn, and the kingdom had an abundance of corn since it was the Great Sage's favorite. Not once had the kingdom ran out of corn for the past 200 years.
The king had asked the Great Sage before to find a way to get rid of the rain, but he didn't feel like it as he liked the rain and found it relaxing.
But once his supply of corn ran out now the Great Sage is going to take action. He might not care much for anything or anyone anymore, but his food is still important to him. Besides, it reminded him of his mother's cooking. It was one of the few things that reminded him of her.
First, he thought it would be easier to simply push the rain clouds away using his magic, and it worked… for all of a few seconds before new clouds formed and started pouring heavily again.
When that didn't work he decided to ask Will directly, but he didn't feel like talking much so he asked one of his female sorcerers, who had very neat writing, to write a letter.
The Great Sage also got Will a gift to ease his rage knowing full well what Victoria had done. So he got him the magical bracelet that grants the user a great amount of strength. The bracelet is actually one of his own personal items that he uses.
The Great Sage is gifting this gift to Will for two reason: 1, this was his least favorite magical item and he didn't care of he lost it or not, and besides he rarely uses physical force to deal with things anymore, which is why he is floating the majority of his time instead of using his legs to walk. Magic is the best way to deal with things nowadays.
2, if Will dies he can always retrieve the gift from his corpse. This would be the second time he gave this gift to a hero. The first hero he had gifted it to him after losing a bet. The hero got eaten by a dragon 20 years later. It took quite a while for the dragon to 'release' the bracelet. Once he found the bracelet he cleaned it up thorougly.
Why did the Great Sage wait so long to give this gift to Will when he heard what Victoria did to him over a week ago? Because he didn't feel like it until now.
And so… the Great Sage had slept in front of the Sun Kingdom for an entire day.