Rise of the F-Rank Hero-Chapter 149: Conflict

They moved deeper into the maze. The silence was oppressive, broken only by the soft clink of armor and the whisper of their breathing.

Amy stuck to Oliver like a second shadow. Her staff glowed with a soft, warm light, casting a protective aura specifically around him.

"Blessing of Agility," she whispered, tapping Oliver’s back. A surge of lightness flooded his limbs.

"Thanks," Oliver murmured.

A few feet away, William watched this interaction with eyes that burned.

’She gave him the high-tier buff,’ William thought, gripping his spear until his knuckles turned white. ’She only gave me the standard stamina regen. Does she think I don’t need it? Or does she just not care?’

His distraction cost him.

As they rounded a corner, the obsidian wall to their right suddenly rippled. It wasn’t stone. It was camouflage.

"Ambush!" Oliver shouted.

The wall peeled away, revealing three massive, hulking figures.

Obsidian Golems.

They were humanoid constructs made of the same black stone as the maze, making them nearly invisible until they moved. Their eyes were burning red coals.

ROAR!

The lead Golem swung a fist the size of a boulder directly at the center of the formation—right where the mages were.

"Block it!" Daniel screamed, raising his sword. "[Divine Slash]!"

He swung a beam of light, but it reflected harmlessly off the Golem’s polished armor.

"Magic reflects!" Sophia shouted. "Use physical force!"

The Golem’s fist came down.

CLANG!

Oliver was there.

He hadn’t tried to block it head-on. He had slid under the guard, using his spear to deflect the blow to the side. The massive stone fist smashed into the ground, cracking the tiles.

"Isolde! Legs!" Oliver barked.

"On it!"

Isolde flashed past him, her rapier glowing with blue mana. She didn’t strike the armor; she struck the joints.

Slash. Slash.

Ice bloomed on the Golem’s knees, freezing the stone mechanisms. The construct groaned and toppled forward.

"Now!" Oliver shouted.

He leaped onto the Golem’s back, reversed his grip on his sword, and drove it into the glowing red core at the base of its neck.

CRACK.

The light in the Golem’s eyes died, and it crumbled into a pile of rocks.

"One down!" Oliver landed, spinning around. "Two more!"

The second Golem charged at Jason and the Knights. They engaged it in a chaotic brawl of steel against stone.

The third Golem, however, circled wide. It was ignoring the main group. It was flanking.

It was heading straight for Oliver’s blind spot while he was recovering from his jump.

William saw it.

He was standing right there. He had his spear ready. He could have stepped in and intercepted the Golem easily.

’He’s open,’ William thought. Time seemed to slow down.

He looked at the Golem’s raised fist. He looked at Oliver’s exposed back.

’If I just... stumble... If I’m just a second too late...’

A dark, seductive voice whispered in his ear. ’Let him get hit. Just one hit. It won’t kill him. Just break a few bones. Humiliate him. Remove him from the expedition.’

William hesitated. He didn’t thrust his spear. He took a half-step back, pretending to lose his footing.

"Oliver! Watch out!" Amy screamed, her voice shrill with terror.

She was too far away to cast a shield in time.

The Golem’s fist descended.

Oliver turned. He saw the fist. He saw William standing there, doing nothing.

His eyes narrowed behind the mask.

’I knew it.’

Oliver didn’t panic. He didn’t dodge away. He dropped.

He collapsed his stance completely, falling into a slide. The stone fist passed inches above his nose, the wind of it ruffling his hair.

As he slid between the Golem’s legs, he thrust his spear upward.

Squelch.

The spear tip found the weak point in the groin plating—the mana regulator.

The Golem shrieked—a sound of grinding stone—and froze.

"Isolde!"

"Die," Isolde whispered.

She appeared in the air above the frozen Golem, her rapier wreathed in dark gravity magic. She descended like a guillotine.

BOOM.

The Golem exploded into dust.

Silence returned to the corridor.

Oliver stood up, dusting off his coat. He didn’t look at the pile of rocks. He turned slowly, deliberately, toward William.

William was pale. He held his spear awkwardly, looking everywhere but at Oliver.

"I... I slipped," William stammered. "The floor... it was slick."

Oliver walked up to him. He didn’t shout. He didn’t attack. He just leaned in close, so only William could hear.

"Do your job, Hero," Oliver whispered, his voice cold as the grave. "Because next time you ’slip’... I might slip too. And my sword is much sharper than yours."

He patted William’s shoulder—hard—and walked past him.

"Amy, check the knights for injuries. Ren, scout ahead. We keep moving."

Amy rushed to Oliver’s side, grabbing his arm, her hands trembling. "Are you okay? That was... that was too close!"

She glared daggers at William over Oliver’s shoulder. She knew. She had seen William hesitate.

"I’m fine," Oliver said loudly, making sure the whole party heard. "Just had to handle a loose end."

He looked forward into the darkness of the maze.

"Stay sharp. The monsters aren’t the only things trying to kill us down here."

****

"Hold," Oliver whispered, raising a fist.

"What is it now?" Daniel hissed, sweat beading on his forehead. "We’ve been walking in circles for an hour."

"The air flow changed," Oliver said, crouching down to touch the cold tiles. "Something opened up ahead. Or closed behind us."

CRUNCH.

The sound didn’t come from ahead. It came from the rear guard.

Everyone spun around.

Where the last two Royal Knights had been standing just seconds ago, there was now a solid slab of black stone. The corridor had slammed shut, sealing them off.

Then came the scream.

It wasn’t a battle cry. It was a high-pitched, wet gurgle of pure agony that was abruptly cut off.

"Garret! Miller!" The Knight Captain roared, rushing to the wall. He slammed his gauntlet against the stone. "Sound off!"

Silence.

Then, the stone wall began to turn red. Blood began to seep through the microscopic cracks in the obsidian, pooling at the Captain’s feet.

"They’re dead," Isolde stated calmly, her rapier drawn. "Crushed instantly."

"No..." Lisa covered her mouth, her face pale.

"Ambush! From the walls!" Oliver shouted.

It wasn’t a mechanism. The walls themselves were alive.

Phase Stalkers.

Figures peeled themselves out of the obsidian—sleek, faceless nightmares with skin like oil and claws as long as daggers. They didn’t make a sound. They phased out of the stone, grabbed a target, and tried to drag them back into the solid rock.

"Form up! Circular defense!" Daniel screamed, panic cracking his voice. "[Divine Aura]!"

He slammed his sword down, creating a circle of light. But the Stalkers didn’t care about light. They moved through the shadows cast by the light.

One Stalker lunged at Sophia.

"Shield!" she cried, but the creature passed through her mana barrier like smoke.

Slash.

Its claws raked across her arm, shredding her robe and drawing deep lines of blood.

"Sophia!" Jason roared, charging in with his shield. He bashed the creature, but hitting it felt like hitting sludge. It simply reformed and hissed.

"Physical attacks don’t work well!" Oliver realized. "They’re semi-corporeal! Use elemental magic! Fire! Lightning!"

He spun his spear, igniting the runes.

"[Ignis]!"

He thrust the spear into a Stalker that was trying to drag a screaming squire into the floor. The fire magic detonated inside the creature. It shrieked—a sound like tearing metal—and evaporated into black smoke.

"Burn them!" Oliver commanded. "Amy! Holy fire!"

Amy nodded, her face grim. She slammed her staff down. "[Purging Flame]!"

White fire erupted around the mages, burning the Stalkers back.

But the Knights weren’t mages. They relied on steel, and steel was useless here.

"Help me!" a knight screamed.

He was being pulled into the wall by two Stalkers. His legs were already fused with the stone. He reached out a desperate, armored hand toward the nearest person.

That person was William.

William stood five feet away. He had his spear ready. He had mana.

"Sir William! Please!" the knight begged, his eyes bulging as his ribs began to crack under the pressure of the stone merging with his body.

William looked at the knight. Then he looked at the Stalkers surrounding him.

’If I help him, I expose my flank,’ William calculated instantly. ’I might get grabbed.’

William took a step back.

"I... I can’t reach!" William lied, his voice trembling.

"You bastard!"

It wasn’t the knight who yelled. It was Oliver.

Oliver vaulted over the defensive line, ignoring his own safety. He threw a dagger infused with lightning magic.

ZAP.

It struck one Stalker in the eye. The monster recoiled.

But it was too late.

CRACK-SQUELCH.

The wall swallowed the knight completely. The sound of his armor collapsing inward echoed through the corridor like a crushed soda can.

Oliver landed in a crouch, breathing hard. He looked at the spot where the man had been. Only a smear of blood remained on the obsidian.

The attack ended as quickly as it began. The Stalkers, sensing the high-level magic from Amy and Isolde, retreated back into the walls.

The corridor was silent again, save for the heavy breathing of the survivors and the dripping of blood.

Three knights were dead. Two were injured. Sophia was clutching her bleeding arm, tears streaming down her face.

Oliver slowly stood up. He didn’t check on Sophia. He didn’t check on the formation.

He walked straight toward William.

William flinched, raising his spear instinctively. "Stay back! It was too dangerous! I couldn’t save him!"

Oliver stopped inches from him. His mask was splattered with the black ichor of the monsters.

"You didn’t even try," Oliver said. His voice wasn’t angry. It was disgusted. "He reached for you. You stepped back."

"I was maintaining the formation!" William shouted, looking around for support. "Daniel! Tell him! If I broke the line, the mages would be exposed!"

"You let him die to save your own skin," Oliver spat.