Realizing the Golem's body faltered slightly with each attack, its inner mechanism seemingly missing a beat, Diavel immediately understood: this was the opening.
Not a gift from fate, but the result of time itself. Every seemingly useless blow had, little by little, worn down a body like an ancient machine.
And so it was with the Sentinel Golem. No matter how powerful or sturdy, it couldn't escape the truth... it was merely a puppet, one that had existed for a very, very long time.
Stone and time had corroded it. It didn't matter how strong it had once been, how many enemies it had once stood against.
A sharp glint lit up in Diavel's eyes, not the blind light of hope, but the keen edge of a warrior who had survived countless brushes with death.
His calculations returned like a storm, clear, precise, efficient.
He tightened his grip on the sword with his right hand, lifted the shield in his left slightly, and adjusted his stance to regain balance.
Sweat still slid down his temple, but his voice was now forged steel.
"Silver-armored swordsman!" he commanded, not a shout, but each word slammed into the air like nails. "Get into position. We'll block the next strike together."
From the right flank, the swordsman in gleaming armor emerged from the rear guard.
No words, no hesitation. He moved forward in two swift breaths, fast, accurate, and without doubt.
The two stood side by side, their swords and shields angled in unison, like two living walls of iron cast from the same forge.
"The rest of you, scatter and attack! Fast and wide! Force it to turn toward you! Don't give it time to gather strength for another swing! Speed-type swordsmen especially, don't let its feet stay still!"
His orders cracked through the chaos like a whip, sparking new life in the team's staggered formation.
Lind was the first to respond. Without waiting for backup, he charged straight toward the Golem's side, shouting as if to tear the air apart, "You rust heap! If you wanna swing, then look at me!!"
His greatsword came down in a sweeping arc, a slashing skill that forced the Golem to tilt and dodge. Not strong enough to deal real damage, but enough to break its rhythm.
At that very moment, two others, Chest and Shivata, appeared from behind, as if coordinated beforehand. They didn't strike the same point, but came from different angles, dividing the pressure and forcing the Golem to constantly retarget.
On the opposite side, the pink-haired lancer and Nautilus had spread out in a crescent formation, attacking in synchronized waves like the crashing tide.
A spear's tip and a steel blade lashed out, targeting the back of the knees, the waist, areas already damaged in earlier clashes.
The Sentinel Golem began to spin, staggering. Its strikes grew inaccurate. The rotating joints screeched, overworked.
But Diavel and his partner remained still. They were not rushing in.
They were waiting for something bigger, a storm that every attack until now had only been fueling.
And then, as if pushed to its limit, the Golem roared. Not a cry of pain, but a low, cavernous sound echoing from deep within its core. Its eyes burned red like twin forges bursting into flame.
It raised both arms and gripped its massive stone sword, a brutally simple weapon, lacking the ornate detail of its armor but radiating danger.
"Brace yourselves," Diavel muttered, barely audible, but the man beside him had already plunged his sword into the ground.
Both of them simultaneously activated their special skill: Impact Guard.
Their swords stabbed into the floor at an angle, forming a cross point."Sorry...I never got your name," Diavel said.
The silver-armored swordsman only nodded, then focused back on channeling the skill. A faint glow rose as they lifted their blades from the ground.
Bracing them before their shields, Diavel's chest rising behind his.
And then… BOOM!
The slash came down like a meteor, sending shards of stone exploding from the floor. The entire room felt like it sank a few inches. Players near the impact zone were hurled away, sliding across the ground.
The air quaked. Rubble fell like rain. Broken metal from the Golem crashed into walls with the sound of shattering bells.
But at the center… the two still stood.
Dust and debris swirled around them like a strange veil. Both faces were pale, their eyes burning with a complex expression.
Their HP bars had dropped again, now even lower than before.
Diavel let out a breath."That was its strongest attack. It'll be delayed for a few seconds now."
He raised his head, voice sharp as a blade.
"Now...attack!"
From deep within the rear line, a sudden motion tore through the chaos, so fast it barely registered to the naked eye.
A shadow surged forward like a tightly coiled tornado finally released, needing only the smallest gap to escape. No signal. No footsteps. No warning.
Only one sound, the air tearing apart as Ren burst past the front line, overtaking even those nearest the Golem, moving so fast they only saw a blur of his cloak whip past.
He was no longer just a solo player, he was a spear launched by pure instinct.
His eyes locked onto the Golem's chest, where an ancient crack ran deep, a scar that had never fully healed.
A red light flickered from within, like the erratic heartbeat of a dying beast, exposing a weakness no boss should ever reveal.
A faint sound escaped his throat. It was unclear whether it was a breath or the activation cue of a skill.
"Stap!"
The sword in Ren's hand flared to life, a flash of blue slicing through the gloomy battlefield like lightning ripping across a stormy sky.
He pushed off the ground, his entire body shot forward like an arrow: clean, decisive, and chillingly precise.
The thrust came down like a divine judgment.
The blade pierced deep into the crack in the Golem's chest, straight into the glowing red core, an immaculate penetration.
At the moment of contact, a burst of intense red light erupted, as though the energy within the creature had been forcibly expelled.
The sound of impact rang out sharply, not like metal against stone, but like a cable stretched too far finally snapping.
The Golem Sentinel shuddered. Its whole body froze for half a beat, its head tilted slightly, and its left arm nearly dropped from its defensive stance.
A massive damage number appeared in the air, bright red amidst the rain of pixelated dust. Tiny red fragments, shaped like shattered rubies, scattered around the blade in glittering disarray.
Before Ren could retreat, another movement tore through the wind.
From the left flank of the battlefield, a small figure glided in like moonlight skimming across a still lake.
Yuna.
Her slender frame made no sound, leaving behind only a faint haze of dust beneath her steps. The short sword in her hand gleamed for an instant like cold silver.
Lowering her stance and moving with impossible speed, she spun once, her blade slicing through the air, trailing a pale arc like a crescent moon cutting through darkness.
She struck diagonally, not at the Golem's armored bulk, but precisely at the pre-existing crack along its left arm joint.
The short sword bit deep into the rocky seam, and the sound it made resembled the sickening crunch of bones splintering.
The Golem let out a low roar, as if rising from the depths of the earth, and turned instinctively toward Yuna.
But that was its fatal mistake.
Its massive body began to tilt. Its left leg stepped back half a pace in an attempt to regain balance... but it was already too late.
Two strikes, one from the front, one from the side, had hit the blind spots in its stance. Like a pair of blades closing in on a long-exposed vulnerability.
The creature took a small step back. But for something its size, that one step was death itself.
The instant the Golem faltered, losing its balance for just a moment, the entire formation snapped into action like a drawn bowstring released.
No signals were needed. That fleeting opportunity, narrow as a blade's edge, was seized by everyone at once.
From all directions, figures lunged like a pack of wolves locking onto their prey.
Footsteps thundered across the stone floor.
Lind led the right flank, his movements sharp as knives slicing through water. His longsword carved a perfect arc through the air, slashing into the unscathed shoulder joint of the Golem with such force that the wind howled.
Close behind came Shivata, spinning with sudden ferocity, his weapon stabbing upward from below, driving deep into the tensed bicep. The two moved with such harmony, it seemed like they'd trained together for months.
On the left flank, a black cloak swept over the cracked stone floor. The girl with the gleaming Tachi hesitated not even for a breath.
She slid low, a wave surging forward, and drove her blade into the Golem's cracking knee. A heavy sound rang out, like chains breaking under pressure.
Right behind her came Nautilus. His steps still stumbled, but his eyes no longer looked away.
He gritted his teeth, raised his short sword with both hands, and swung, a simple, clean cut. Not for damage. But for resolve.
Behind them, Diavel and the silver-armored swordsman abandoned their defensive positions.
Like war machines finally unchained, they surged forward together, weapons glowing as offensive skills activated in rapid succession.
Both aimed at the Golem's head, their fierce strikes forcing it to look up reflexively, exposing its throat, now riddled with cracks like stone enduring a long winter.
Within the span of a few heartbeats, the Golem Sentinel had been driven to the brink of death.
Surrounded on all sides. The attacks no longer came individually, they were like needles stitching it in place, weaving a net of damage from every direction.
No more retreat. No more rotation. No more full-force attacks.
Its massive form, once a symbol of terror had become its own cage.
The Golem stood still.
Like an ancient monolith about to be torn apart by the storm.
Its eyes, hidden deep within the stone helm, no longer glowed wide, they shrank inward, flickering like dying embers.
No roar. No resistance.
Only a crushing silence, as if the Golem was staring at them all...these tiny beings who had driven it to its final breath...