It was a very easy strategy. They would scatter when the monsters rushed them and then force it to focus on only one of them while the others tried to take it down.

If the monster ran after another person, the others would focus on it too. Bosses were fast, but so was the team, and they made use of their essence well.

So when the golem heaved its bulk up and sped towards them, they easily scattered in a loose circle, and the monster was forced to go after one of them. It chose Catena.

Fortunately for him, the crypt was made of solid earth, and he quickly activated his skill that let him borrow strength from the earth and propel himself forward with ground-eating leaps.

The heavy clinking of the monster after him was the only sound as it tried to catch up. And it was closing the distance between them fast.

"Alex," Azaroth said as he watched them.

"I know, I know," Alex said and pointed. With a crack and whooshing of air, a lightning arrow fired at the monster. The attack hit the monster in its back and sent it sprawling, a chunk of its body blown out.

Catena didn’t waste time and was on its back in a flash, his metal balls came down to bash it repeatedly on the head. Then the monster turned its arm back, rotated from its socket, and punched him.

Catena dodged, using his two metal balls as a guide as the punch caught them and sent him back. The monster stood, its crystal body chiming.

The monster ran at Catena, and he sent his chain snapping forward like a whip, straight at the monster’s head. The monster stumbled, missed its footing, and went down again.

With the distance between them, Catena used his chain like a whip, the two balls connecting with the monster repeatedly. With the strength behind each swing, it would have bashed in an Awakener’s head of the same rank as him.

But only small crystals fell off from the bulk of the monster. Then the monster caught one of his chains and held it, pulling and sending Catena flying towards it.

"Not good!" Stallus shouted and began running forward, but the monster bunched its crystal fingers together and punched Catena in the chest, sending him smashing into the wall of crystal where he crashed down.

Catena groaned before he looked up, eyes rolling. "I’m...m...o...okay." He didn’t sound okay, but no one said anything to that. They had just lost their heavy hitter. At the very least, it would take some time before Catena recovered. What saved him was the combination of his skill and essence.

He was using full body forge, and when he used the skill that let him borrow strength from the earth, his physical strength improved, and his body also got tougher. That meant that the punch didn’t do as much damage as it should.

Azaroth looked at the monster as it threw Catena’s weapon aside. His sword would be of little help here, and only one of his two skills could work, Fire Force.

Fire Force would require that he got close to the monster. "Tread carefully," he told the others. "A single swing of that arm and it’ll crush your head and snap bones."

They nodded as the three of them moved closer to the golem. "Alex. Focus only on the head. Or the joints."

"It’s fast but not as fast as us with all that weight it’s made of," Azaroth pointed with his sword.

There was no signal given as each just leaped forward and ran at the monster. Alex pointed and conjured lightning that smashed into the creature’s head and removed chunks.

The monster’s reaction was also good, and it swung at them fast. Each punch was meant to crush them, but they slipped from it like water on oil.

Azaroth focused on the creature’s right shoulder and sent Fire Force, his skill that was fire and shockwave mixed together. And after about three times of doing so and risking getting his hand smashed, he finally got a result.

The third time Azaroth used Fire Force on the shoulder, there was a crack, and the shoulder fell.

"Finally!" Alex shouted, still keeping his distance and sending his attacks.

Stallus was fighting it in a different manner. She knew none of her attacks would affect it, so she didn’t bother to use her sabre or hand.

What she used were her legs. She focused essence on her legs and then, with all her strength, ran and slid into the monster’s leg as it retreated.

It was a tricky thing because she risked the monster falling on her and crushing her. But since that was the only way she could fight, she kept to it.

It was beautiful how she sent the monster falling so that Azaroth was able to get to it with ease and shatter its hands.

But for all they were doing, the monster was as strong as a mountain, and their attacks were similar to that of an ant trying to push a tree.

To make sure that the monster didn’t put its hand together, Azaroth stepped on it with feet covered in essence and shattered it. The monster didn’t mind and just kept fighting with one hand.

Then Azaroth managed to get the other hand, and Alex’s attacks finally shattered the head. The golem froze then.

Stallus sighed. "At last! That thing would just keep fighting us until we ran out of essence and then kill us!"

Sounds about right, Azaroth thought. He hated monsters made out of things like crystals and rocks. They are very difficult to fight, not only because of their natural strength.

They are just like cockroaches; they simply do not die unless you grind them into the dust. That was why Azaroth kept his eyes on the frozen monster, and he wasn’t surprised when it moved.

That was why Azaroth hated cockroaches. Because they refuse to die.