The Final Trial

For his final trial, he was thrown into a subterranean maze filled with tunnels, rock Golems, and earthquakes. The descent was brutal.

Maximus barely had time to catch his breath from his fight with the undead King before the ground beneath him split apart, dragging him into the depths of the earth. He crashed into a solid rock, rolling across the floor before coming to a stop. The dust from the surroundings filled his lungs as he pushed himself to his feet, surveying his surroundings.

The cavern stretched endlessly with tunnels going in every direction. The walls had a faint, eerie glow with lines of molten rock running through the stone.

As he was looking at his surroundings, the ground shook. A loud boom echoed through the cavern, followed by a distant sound of grinding stone. Maximus grabbed both Dawnshear and Duskfang to prepare for whatever was coming.

He stepped forward cautiously, navigating the labyrinthine paths, each one seemingly identical to the last. The deeper he went, the more unstable the tunnels became. Every few steps, the ground would rumble violently, sometimes collapsing the passage behind him. He had no choice but to keep moving.

From the cavern walls, massive figures began to take shape, gargantuan golems of stone and crystal, their bodies forged from the very elements of the cave. Their eyes burned with molten cores as they turned their gaze toward him. These were the Rock Golems of the cave.

The first one lunged at him, a colossal fist swinging in a downward arc. Maximus rolled to the side just in time, avoiding using his magic. The impact sent shockwaves through the cavern, shattering the stone floor. Because of its size and slow speed, the Golem's hand was still in the floor, which Maximus took advantage of, slashing at the Golem's arm with Dawnshear. The magic-infused blade bit into the rock but barely left a mark.

The Golem swung again, forcing Maximus to leap back, his mind racing. Blades alone wouldn't work on these he needed something stronger.

Summoning his magic, he used the disintegrate ability on the golem, causing the Golem's body to disintegrate starting from its legs. Withing seconds the golem was completely gone leaving nothing behind.

But this wasn't the only Golem as more started to emerge from the walls. Not only that, but the quakes started to grow stronger, making the entire labyrinth become more unstable.

Maximus ran, weaving through the collapsing tunnels, dodging falling boulders and weaving through the large groups of Golems. He struck where he could cast disintegrate on various of the Golems. He didn't destroy all of them as he needed to conserve what remaining stamina he had to cast magic.

As he was running, the ground suddenly slit open beneath, causing him to fall. Before he could try and save himself, a massive boulder had smashed into him, pushing him even further down in the darkness. The magic fatigue was starting to catch up with him.

For a moment, there was nothing. Then, a blinding flash, an explosion of light and heat as he hit the ground hard. The boulder didn't kill him thankfully as he reinforced his body upon initial impact.

He grunted as he mustered up the strength to move the boulder off of him. For a few minutes, he lay there on the ground taking a break for a short time before he had to keep moving to wherever it was, he had to go.

Standing up, he looked around and found himself in a massive cavern. At its center stood a humanoid figure standing in front of a Golem who was more massive than the previous ones.

Maximus readied himself, knowing that this was the final battle that he would need to win before he finished all of his trials. Towering before him was the Golem King, a monolithic figure clad in stone armor reinforced with magic. Arcane symbols glowed across its body.

The colossal Golem beside it stood motionless, its glowing eyes locked onto Maximus, waiting for a command.

"You have come far, warrior… but this is as far as you will go. You have killed many of my underlings which is unacceptable, and now you will pay." The Golem King said as it waved its hand, causing the ground to tremble. From the shadows, smaller golems different from the ones he encountered before, burst forth, some humanoid, other crawling like beasts of stone and crystal.

Maximus exhaled steadying his breathing and pushing past his fatigue. "Just one more battle," he muttered as the first wave of golems charged. Maximus weaved through them with his speed, slashing and disintegrating a few of them. Dawnshear carved scars into the stone bodies, while Duskfang deflected crushing a few attacks directed towards him. But for every golem he felled, more replaced them, their bodies reforming from the cavern walls.

Then, the Golem King raised its hand, sending forth the massive Golem standing at his side. Its hand swung toward Maximus who barely managed to leap away before the Golems hand smashed into the ground, creating a crater and sending debris flying. The force sent not just him, but the other Golems tumbling as well.

He managed to regain his balance and slammed his hand against the ground, causing the entire cavern to shake. Cracks appeared in the wall and small to medium sized rocks began to fall from the ceiling.

The Golem King narrowed its eyes. "Fool," it shouted. "You think to bury me? I am the mountain itself!" The colossal Golem raised both fists, slamming them into the ground. A shockwave of magic erupted from the impact, nullifying Maximus's magic and stabilizing the cavern. The Golem King was just a summoner, it was tied to the very foundation of the labyrinth.

In order to win this swiftly before he collapsed due to magic fatigue, he would need to use his most powerful technique. It was a magic technique that Eonwe taught him which used every ounce of his remaining magic and reinforced his body and enhanced his strength x10.

The technique would last 2 minutes, and after the two minutes, the magic fatigue would take over and he would collapse almost immediately.

Activating the technique, all of Maximus's remaining magic enveloped his entire body almost instantly. The Golem King, sensing the concentration of magic power, commanded its mini-Golems to swarm Maximus. But with a swing of Dawnshear, he sliced through every Golem before sprinting towards the colossal Golem.

The colossal Golem swung its massive arm in a wide arc, aiming to crush Maximus in a single blow. But with his increased speed and strength, Maximus launched himself into the air, twisting mid-air to evade the strike. The sheer force of the Golem's swing sent shockwaves through the cavern, shattering stone formations.

Maximus landed atop the Golem's arm and sprinted up along its arm. The colossal Golem roared as it attempted to shake him off. Chunks of stone broke beneath his feet, as he pushed forward, leaping onto the Golem's chest.

With one downwards swing, he split the colossal Golem in half, from head to toe. Its core was destroyed in the process, but to make sure that it was destroyed, he also used disintegrate on its body. After a few seconds the Golem was reduced to nothing.

The Golem King, seeing this, vanished from his spot and appeared right next to Maximus, delivering a powerful strike to his abdomen. But Maximus sensed this attack coming and managed to grab his stone fist just before it hit his body.

Maximus crushed the stone fist, then spun and delivered a blow with Dawnshear, slicing deep into the Golem King's body. But this wasn't enough as the Golem King's hand regenerated almost instantly.

They exchanged blows for about half a minute with the Golem King mainly being the defensive the entire time. He had to fend off against dual swords and various magic attacks launched by Maximus, while trying to land an effective attack of his own.

Maximus observed the Golem King struggle and noted a subtle change in the arcane symbols illuminating his body. The glow was subtly decreasing, which likely indicated that his magic energy was depleting. The consistent regeneration hacks seemed to be draining him. Maximus needed to strike at those magic cores, preventing the Golem King from recharging his energy.

As the fight went on, he felt that he was reaching his time limit, so he pulled one final move. Drawing the Golem King in for a feint, he grabbed one of his arms, causing the Golem King to try and counter with a spin.

As he spinned, Maximus used both Dawnshear and Duskfang and swung in an x pattern across the Golem King's body. His entire top half was gone and had fallen to the ground. Maximus then took Duskfang and drove it into the bottom half of the Golem King's body, shattering the magic which held it together.

Unlike limbs, the Golem King's body could not regenerate as fast as an arm or leg could. Because of this, it was rendered immovable and couldn't do anything to fight back.

Maximus stood over the crumbling remains of the Golem King, his breath ragged, his body barely holding together. The last bit of magic faded from his body, and he felt the crushing weight of exhaustion settle in. His two-minute limit had passed, causing him to collapse on the ground.

All of the Golems under the Golem King had shattered as the Golem King's magic faded. His vision went black and the last thing he saw was the caver crumbling above him. Without its master, the magic holding it together unraveled.

The final trial was over. He had successfully survived all 4 trials.