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Chapter 126
Breaking Down
For some reason, after the initial shock, Ann felt that everything was moving slower than before, and that there was no noise whatsoever that she could hear. Although she knew full well that the ground was still shaking, oddly enough, she didn’t really feel it, and her sight didn’t reflect the shaking. It was as if her brain just automatically filtered it. Her eyes slowly widened in surprise.
Aah, I guess the saying that your brain suddenly processes things differently during the moments leading up to your death is true…
The gigantic golem’s fist slowly loomed ominously above Ann, casting a shadow that was large enough to engulf her whole being. The instinct in her body screamed for her to run, but for some reason, her legs refused to obey. She could only stand still, frozen to the core.
And for some reason, her body just decided to give up as her eyelids slowly closed…
“ANN!!!” Laura’s hysterical voice snapped Ann back to reality, her mind was now clear.
When she turned to look in the distant, she could see the faces of those precious to her–including the man that was expressionlessly staring at her so intently–yet the muscles around his fists and face were bulging, clearly suppressing the emotions within that he was feeling, and his eyes even reflected hints of despair mixed with fury.
Then, her best friend, Laura who screamed already had her face streaming with tears.
“…!”
‘I can’t give up on them!!’
Ann steeled her heart, and quickly dashed to escape from the golem’s deadly squish.
Thankfully, the golem’s speed was so slow, it didn’t react on time and its large fist only destroyed the ground.
Ann barely managed to escape, so she tumbled a bit due to the ground’s impact.
As she stood up, she glanced towards where Rakiasha was standing, along with the Birdie that was next to her.
She was surprised to see Rakiasha, who was already standing next to Birdie who was imprisoned in the magical bird cage. Since when did she get to move to that location?! She was just right in front of the golem before, when she summoned it, but now…
Rakiasha was literally looking down at Ann.
“Defeat my golem and you will win,” Rakiasha said, but her expression was akin to watching a play, and it was evident how she was so confident of winning and that the whole situation was completely in her grasp. Ann felt oddly irked by this.
Then–
“Chirp!” –You got this!
At the same time as Birdie’s chirping could be heard, a mysterious voice could be heard from within Ann’s mind, and Ann could instinctively tell that it was Birdie!
Feeling the upcoming danger, Ann turned to see the golem attempting another murder by deadly squish part two, so she just ran again and focused on creating some distance from the golem to think.
Think, Ann, think! What can you possibly do in this situation?
Is there really nothing at all?
What can you do?
I am the master of water, and water is life, water is everything…
Ann stared intently at the golem and her surroundings even as she tirelessly ran, while the golem only had to slightly move its arm effortlessly to try to murder her and even make her into minced meat…
This isn’t fair!!
Wait… Water… Can I drown this golem in water?
…No, no.
I think I’d drown all of us to death before that huge golem is drowned!!
Ice? Can I freeze it?
No… It will just easily break through the ice…
Scald? How hot should I make my water magic to be able to scald it? And how much hot water do I even need to scald it so much that it’s no longer functional?
That doesn’t sound realistic either…
If only I can make it crumble easily… but I am no earth magician…
I can’t manipulate rock to crumble–wait, I think this golem is made up of ground or clay more than rock…
Clay… Back then, I used to enter clay workshops and even do gardening in my spare time before I became a corporate slave and had my plants all withered just like myself…
Uh…
What does ground or clay have to do with water?
…!!
Something suddenly clicked in Ann’s mind.
Water is an element that runs inside so many things–from living beings to… the ground. And the golem standing in front of her was no exception!
Therefore, she could try to manipulate the water inside the golem!
Since she couldn’t make it flood and have the golem lose its shape due to absorbing too much water, she could probably squish the water out of the golem! And what usually happens to the ground or clay that has been dried up of water?
It would be too dry, cracks would form, and eventually, it’d lose the ability to keep ahold of its shape and crumble.
Realizing that fact and seeing that there was a considerable amount of distance between her and the golem–so much that the golem needed to move or rotate a bit for its fist to be able to reach her, Ann stopped in her track and closed her eyes, focusing on feeling the water inside the golem and to manipulate it.
Although Ann was focusing on retaliating and ending this duel in victory, the others who watched her didn’t think so.
“A-Ann! Is she tired…? But…,” Laura couldn’t think straight as she had been in panicked mode since earlier.
“…,” Allen frowned his eyebrows so deep. What are you doing, Ann?
“Are you giving up? Are you just going to stand there and be crushed?” Rakiasha taunted Ann, but there was no response, even when Rakiasha managed to make the golem position itself so that its fist was straight above Ann, ready to fall down and squish her silly.
“It’s not too late to say that you’re giving up. I might let you live,” Rakiasha offered, but Ann didn’t respond.
“…Foolish human, not knowing where to acknowledge their defeat,” Rakiasha’s face quickly shifted to an expression full of disappointment.
This human has potential, but her pride is too high. Too bad that this talented person will lose her life here due to her haughtiness and unwillingness to submit to me.
Rakiasha thought as she raised her hand, commanding the golem to have its fist descend towards Ann.
Ann was so irked by Rakiasha’s attitude of thinking that the fight was already over and that she would win, but Ann had to concentrate on manipulating the golem through its water content, so she decided to ignore Rakiasha thoroughly.
Even as her eyes were closed, she could feel that the golem was currently trying to bring its fist down to squish her, so she decided to focus on that part first.
With a very deep breath, Ann used her magic to extract the water within the golem’s arm that was slowly heading towards her. She could feel the water buried deep within the golem, helping it keep its form steadily. Ann quickly began to draw it out and turn it into the water vapor.
And before the golem’s arm could reach Ann, suddenly, it stopped moving.
“W-what? Why is it not moving?!” Rakiasha was surprised.
Ann opened her eyes and saw the golem’s arm stopping right above her.
Not good, if it crumbles now, I’d get hit anyway!
Ann quickly ran away from her spot as she continued to extract water from the golem’s arm, and as she escaped the trajectory of the golem’s crumbs, she drew out the water more rapidly.
Obviously, it caused the golem’s arm to crumble and lose form.
“What?!” Rakiasha was surprised.
Ann smirked and declared, “You thought I was breaking down inside, but your golem is the one breaking down from inside!”
Seeing that Rakiasha was currently caught off guard, Ann didn’t waste her time and quickly used all the magical power that she could use in her, in order to rapidly draw out the water content from inside the golem.
True enough, Rakiasha got even more agitated when she noticed she couldn’t move the golem as per her will. The golem was so stiff that it couldn’t move no matter how much she commanded or poured her magic into it, causing her to be bewildered.
Before she could even figure out what was going on, she was so surprised to see that the whole golem started to crack and crumble, just like its fist!
“What is happening?!” Rakiasha lost her composure as she had never experienced her golem being defeated like this–destroyed to crumbles.
“Heh… You promised… After I defeat the golem, it’s your defeat… and I win…,” Ann still kept at it as she saw that the golem wasn’t fully crumbled yet, although she started to feel faint due to using too much of her magic power up until this moment.
“What? This is your doing?!” Rakiasha had a hunch, but she couldn’t believe that a mere human like Ann could accomplish such a feat. Hearing Ann claim it as her doing, she felt like her world was also crumbling before her.
“You… promised…,” Ann started to feel like her vision was turning hazy and that energy had left her limbs.
Then, just as the golem completely lost its form and all of its body had already crumbled to the invisible chasm again, Ann lost her consciousness as well.
Everything went black, but Ann didn’t feel scared.
Instead, she felt relieved and just let her body succumb to unconsciousness…
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