Idrite was a valuable resource on the continent of Celatria due to its special properties when interacting with mana.
However, it was due to these properties that sometimes, a creature known as an Idrite Golem would sometimes form.
Birthed through natural means as a result of idrite clusters interacting with ample ambient mana in the air, idrite golems were a force to be reckoned with. Not only could they produce rudimentary magical effects, but they were also known to be somewhat intelligent and capable of understanding languages to an extent.
I'd learned all of this from the rulebook after perusing its bestiary for any creatures that might be strong enough to finally give me a level after all this time.
Thanks to the rulebook's ability to show me what I needed at the moment, I was able to pin down a couple hunting targets, but only the idrite golem had any chance of being in the immediate vicinity.
I mean, we were pretty much next to a massive idrite mining operation and from what I recalled after sifting through a few of the mine foreman's documents, they still hadn't encountered one yet.
With [Eagle Eye]'s penetrative vision and a bit of luck, I managed to confirm that there were indeed a few idrite golems simply lying dormant inside a cave network deeper into the mine.
Now, the only problem was getting to them.
As far as I could see, the only actual entrance to the cave system was on the other side of the mountain and I really didn't feel like navigating through an entire tunnel network just to fight a golem or two.
And that's why I'm currently in the middle of the goddamn mine, punching rocks like a madwoman for the past hour.
With each strike, the ground beneath me gave way a little more and the cavern that I was inside shook violently. It probably sounded like an earthquake to anyone who was near the entrance of the mine, but we'd taken out the sentries earlier, so that wasn't an issue.
As for any reinforcements that might've arrived due to our "infiltration" of the library, well... I'll cross that bridge when the time comes.
BOOM!
The sound of shattered rocks falling echoed violently in the chamber beneath me. At last, I'd finally entered the cave system where the idrite golems were dwelling. It'd still take a bit of spelunking for me to reach the nearest idrite golem's chamber, but we were still doing pretty good on time even though I wasted an hour tunneling.
The air here was stale, and it was pretty obvious that no one had been down here in a long time. Prospectors had probably been inside a part of this tunnel that was closer to the surface, but I could see no idrite veins here even with [Eagle Eye]'s penetrative vision.
That and the possible threat of idrite golems was probably why they didn't dig this deep yet.
All the better for me. The less disturbances I had, the better.
I began making my way over to the golem that I'd scoped out earlier on the surface. Honestly, I felt a little bad about calling [Eagle Eye] a useless skill when I first shoved five levels into it since it was carrying my ass right now.
It was around ten minutes of walking, during which time I strategized for my fight against the golem.
Due to its special properties, the idrite golem's immune to magic. I only have [Pyromancy], so it's not like that'll be a problem. Besides that, it hits like a ten ton truck according to the bestiary.
Maybe I could use [Devouring Healing] to oneshot it since it's the mana inside the idrite crystals animating it? Nah. If that worked, then it wouldn't be challenging, would it? But [Devouring Healing] works on ambient mana and active mana... So it should work, right? We'll see.
It was then that I realized this was the first time I'd actually tried to think of a strategy before fighting something in this world. Maybe I really was growing, or maybe I was just on edge because of the whole thing with Antenora.
The moment I reached the cavern where the idrite golem rested, I deactivated [Eagle Eye].
The creature was a colossal, hulking mass of rock and crystals all mashed together in a humanoid shape. Currently, it was in a sitting position in the center of the cave. A crystal larger than all the others dotting its gem-encrusted body was embedded in the golem's center mass.
It didn't look like the golem had noticed my presence, but I could see that there was a dim light that pulsed gently in its central crystal.
It felt wrong to attack it while it was "asleep", but then again, I needed my level. Since it wasn't responding even though I approached it, I walked right up to it and placed my hand on the large crystal that was jutting out of its center.
[Devouring Healing] immediately sucked the ambient mana out of the air around us, but it didn't look like it had any effect on the golem other than awakening it.
The crystal that I had my hand on immediately lit up and radiated an angry blue light, so I backed off and leapt backward.
I didn't expect [Devouring Healing] to work since the rulebook had suggested the golem as an enemy appropriate for my needs, but I was still slightly disappointed.
What was it that caused [Devouring Healing] to fail though? Was it because the golem was a living creature? No.
It had worked on the enchantments that Jusis was wreathing around his body, so the problem wasn't that a creature was manipulating the ambient mana in the air.
That meant the only possible reason was the mana being inside of the idrite crystal.
I filed that thought away for later usage. Normally, using [Devouring Healing] meant that I couldn't use magic while remaining in the mana-drained area either which is why I hadn't been relying on [Pyromancy] much, but with idrite crystals I could probably find a way to bypass that weakness.
Right now though, I had to focus on the golem that was getting up in front of me. It rose to its feet slowly, and the sound of the golem's stone limbs grinding against one another at its "joints" was annoying to say the least.
The lethargy of its movements tempted me to dash in and attack right now, but [Complete Analysis] told me that would probably be a mistake. Even though it was moving slowly, the golem had four arms and two of them were currently spinning in the air around its body.
They were smaller than the arms that were actually attached to the golem's body, but they moved with far greater speed and flexibility, hitting just as hard.
They were the primary reason why I backed off instead of attempting to destroy its central crystal in a single blow. If I failed, I'd be forced to take a hit to the back from at least one of those, and I certainly didn't want to wait and see how much it'd hurt.
Secondly, its stats were higher than mine according to [Complete Analysis]. In fact, this thing was probably stronger than Shade Reginault when it came to just raw strength.
I cracked my knuckles.
Alright, let's see what you've got.