The golem's exterior was that of hard rock strengthened by mana, but I wasn't aiming for any of that.
My target was the large crystal that was protruding out from its center mass. A bright blue flare consisting of raw magical energy burned angrily inside of it which only served to make it an easier target.
There was no doubt that the crystal was reinforced by the mana that circulated within it. In fact, it might even be harder to crack than the rest of the golem's body.
Even so, that wouldn't matter. Not in the face of my trump card.
The golem and I approached one another head on.
This was no longer a battle between two individuals. It was a primal struggle for survival now.
The golem's arms closed around me as I entered into striking range. If this failed, I would no doubt be crushed and perish.
But I wouldn't fail.
This time, I'd prepared myself. The time I spent looking through the bestiary, the defensive tactics that I used during this fight, and the seemingly suicidal charge that pitted me face-to-face against a creature far larger than me.
All of it came together in order to allow me this single moment.
I thrust my fist toward the crystal faster than the golem's arms could close around mine. I didn't even need to call the name of the skill in my mind to activate it this time.
It was ingrained in my very muscles and it was the ultimate culmination of everything I'd learned back on Earth.
My knuckles struck hard against the smooth, flat surface of the golem's central crystal. The sound of my attack was silent in stark contrast to the thunderous blows that we'd launched against one another earlier.
The golem paused in mid-motion, just before its rocky arms were about to enclose me in an equally rocky tomb.
Unlike when I first attempted to use [Fa Jin] against an opponent in this world, there was no need for me to second guess myself. The golem stopping despite being so close to ending me was already a clear enough sign that it worked.
A second later, the sound of crystal cracking echoed once throughout the cavernous chamber before repeating itself multiple times over the span of a mere second.
Only once the golem finally crumbled into tiny rocks and dust did I finally relax.
I stepped backward and took a deep breath in, a grin spreading across my face. It was the first time in this world that I'd actually made a plan before rushing in, and it somehow worked.
It was by no means a complicated or convoluted plan. It was simple and clear cut, based on my own strengths and the speculated abilities of the golem.
But even so, it worked. And that was the most important part. Besides, simple plans like these suited me. As much as I hate to admit it, I guess 14 intelligence was pretty generous of the system.
[Congratulations! You have leveled up!]
I plopped my ass down on the cold stone of the cavern. My clothes were torn and singed from the battle, so it was a little breezy, if you know what I mean.
A few rocks and pebbles jutting out from the ground made it uncomfortable for me to sit, but right now, I just didn't have the energy to reposition myself.
As it turns out, the battle was a lot more taxing on me than I expected now that the adrenaline had flushed itself out of my body. I recalled the last time that I felt like this against an opponent was my fight against Jusis, the first Shade that I'd encountered in this world.
Not even the archbishop had induced such post-battle lethargy in me, but that was probably since I was still on something of a power high after experiencing the massive temporary buff that came from absorbing Darkness.
I still wasn't sure what exactly happened or why I was capable of absorbing Darkness to fuel myself, but it probably had something to do with the weird formula that represented my Darkness stat.
Either way, that wasn't something I could figure out by myself, even if I pumped the shit out of my intelligence stat.
The level up alert repeated itself once, meaning that I'd gained two levels. It was a welcome surprise seeing as I was only expecting to gain one.
Maybe the "difficulty" of the fight was also affected by how likely I was to die, and the extra level came from the fact that I pretty much charged in suicidally near the end, relying solely on [Fa Jin] to carry the day.
The first order of business was to obtain the [Warrior's Trappings] skill, which I promptly added to my skill list using [Rulebook]'s ability to edit my character sheet.
As for the second skill, I considered upgrading [Psychic Citadel].
It wouldn't really help me in combat, but Antenora's behavior was pretty off-putting. Not only had she immediately defused my worries at the beginning of the conversation, but she also left me feeling like I could trust her.
All without asking a single thing about me.
I recalled that Antenora had commented about my acquisition of the skill, though I'd never told her. The obvious answer to that mystery was that she simply deduced it from no longer being able to read my thoughts.
However, she had said nothing about the skill actually preventing her from using the other aspects of her skill.
While I was looking through skills to help me get stronger, I ended up giving [Telepathy] a read out of curiosity and slight paranoia.
There were two important things that I discovered.
I didn't know what level of [Telepathy] Antenora possessed, but seeing as she was supposedly the former Hero, I was willing to bet that it wasn't low. After all, she mentioned that she could sense and share emotions between individuals.
That meant her [Telepathy] skill was at least at level two.
However, she was also capable of inducing dizziness in Lucrezia. Her statements about the "loops" and how Juryez was the furthest they got in the previous loop pretty much confirmed Priya's suspicions.
Now, her [Telepathy] skill was at least level five. That was the lowest level required for a [Telepathy] user to actually cause people physical distress, and that was a huge issue.
Why?
Because at level four, the [Telepathy] skill allows the user to penetrate mental defenses so long as the level of the defense doesn't exceed the [Telepathy] skill's level itself.
Of course, there were some drawbacks. For each level of mental defense, the [Telepathy] skill was treated as a level lower when used against a person who possessed that defense.
This meant that when Antenora used [Telepathy] on me, she would only be able to manifest effects of level four or lower.
Luckily, level four only gave her the ability to penetrate mental defenses, so she was technically only capable of affecting me with effects of level three or lower.
That was the first important piece of information.
The second was that Antenora had lied.