The room that was entered seemed very large as the current light that was being cast couldn't reach the end of the walls, making Rio unable to see the whole surrounding, intensifying the fireball that was produced, Rio could finally light up the whole room just to see… "is that a golem?"
After straining his eyes and seeing an at least 8-foot-tall bulky golem, with subtle red glowing lining all over its body standing motionless on the opposite side of the room to me, instead of being fearful, Rio felt a sort of curiosity.
'System'
[Ding!]
Name: Helios
Strength: 26.25 (105)
Agility: 20.0 (80)
Endurance: 50.0 (200)
Mana: ???
Description: A Golem created by [???]
The ones in bracket must have been when it is with its peak strength, it's a good meat shield or rock shield Rio should say, though it's slow, its defensive capabilities are extraordinary, but what's going on with the mana? Does that mean it can use mana but no limit or it can't?
Regardless, Rio was not stupid enough to walk up to it, however, what piqued my interest is what was behind the golem, a sort of glass ball that was dimly shining a blue light, hardly noticeable if one didn't concentrate.
"System scan"
[Ding!]
Name: Mana Core
Grade: Low Grade
Ability: Power source that can supply a steady source of mana
'The Mana core is probably a source of power to the Golem, even though it said it is low grade, I still feel some mana from it, and it must have been used over time, for it to be a low-grade core, but who knows. But I can feel that with the core, it could probably increase my strength, but this golem might activate if I get too close, who knows what other traps may be here.'
'Destroying the core could probably be the fastest way of deactivating it, but what's the point, if I'm going to destroy the thing I want? Plus, it's deteriorated over time, it probably won't be as strong as in its peak condition.'
Having this golem under his command would be useful, especially with its defense, but how would Rio go about that, and even if he could, where would he even keep it? As soon as Rio comes out of the realm, the golem would probably be confiscated with the addition of unwanted attention.
Even if Rio couldn't control the golem, it would be tough even destroying it with its defensive capabilities, it also looks like the core provides the mana it uses, so the more it uses its mana the more the power in the core gets expended which isn't really good news for Rio.
As Rio scrambled his brain looking for a plan, Rio could use to get the core, If Rio could get the core without the golem using its elemental power, it would be mission accomplished.
After a minute of brainstorming, Rio had a relatively decent plan established. I assume if Rio gets close to the golem's proximity, it will activate, like how most of these things go, and if Rio tries to aim for the mana core directly, although it's too slow to catch Rio, he can't say the same about the magic it may cast.
So, Rio simply must either get there before it activates, not sure if he was that fast so the plan is risky, or Rio could create a distraction.
'Sigh, this is going to create a lot of stress both physically and mentally and leave me too exhausted to fight someone, but as the saying says, the greater the risk the greater the reward'
Rio took a deep breath in and out and put a game face on.
'Dark Clone'
Suddenly Rio's shadow started to move out of the group making a figure with the same stature and height as Rio, however, everything was black, with no facial features.
With Rio looking pale and exhausted, Rio mentally told the clone to go towards the golem at the fastest speed, it suddenly started shifting between shadows of the room, and before it could go halfway towards its target, the subtle red glowing line that was on the golem, started blazing with intense light and the eyes of the golem lit up as it lifted its head up and lights started to illuminate the room as if someone turned on the light, leaving no shadows for the clone to shift to
However, the clone didn't stop as it still had Rio's command in his head, Rio could instinctively tell that the clone has been severely weakened, and he concluded that it was due to the light as the golem was focused on the clone.
Rio used every skill he had that could increase his speed to its peak while straining his body even more, and waited for the golem to make a move on the shadow before he launch forward, the golem suddenly had sparks coming out of its hands and a fire blast spread launched outwards with incredible power enveloping the whole of the shadow's body.
However, the destruction of the clone, reduced the mental strain on Rio's body, while the golem was blasting the shadow, Rio launched himself towards the core and reached there, 'I just launched myself 50 meters in less than half a second, that would have been impossible in my past life.' Rio grinned internally
However, the grin turned into a solemn face as the core that was practically within my grasp, was now shielded by a red semi-transparent barrier, Rio grimaced and launched the strongest spell with origin magic
'Dark Ray'
Instantly creating a hole in the barrier, however, the barrier started quickly regenerating, and Rio could feel an immense danger coming from behind him, knowing this Rio could tell the golem had focused its attention on him and started casting so Rio quickly got his hands on the core and took it from the mount it was on, as the core was removed from the mount, the golem lost connection before It could fire the spell.
Luckily, Rio know origin magic, or it wouldn't have ended well for him. Both extremely high defense and mana, what could be the worst enemy.
Rio tried to see if the golem was still able to move, but before he could even try to check, Rio started to stumble, and a head-splitting headache dawned upon me. Rio grumbled and crouched trying to reduce the dizziness and pain as this was not the place to pass out.
However, due to his mental state being overused dramatically, Rio had no choice but to succumb to the darkness and pass out on the cold hard rocky floor…