Lord Of Puppets-Chapter 148 – Dungeon Raid – Part 19.

"..."

(Okay.... This ain’t good.) – thought Thauma as it tried moving around its mana.

(The core.... I thought I would have more time.... But this isn’t good!)

(I’m running out of time!)

(The mana organs took too much damage and they may soon stop working properly!)

(I can probably still hold on for few seconds, but after they shut down, I will only have seconds to do something!) – thought the golem as it stared at one of the nearby destroyed tank golems, prompting Thauma to start slowly walking towards it.

"Shit! How many of these fuckers are left!" – shouted beastman warrior as he swung around his sword and fired his one-handed crossbow.

"Hey! Adam! Can you fucking do something?"

"I.... Fuck.... Sorry." – said Adam as he got on his knee.

(Dammit! I’ve had overused [Berserk].) – thought exhausted Adam as he was trying to catch a breath.

"I think I’m out of the fight.... Fuck." - said Adam as he could feel strains all across his body.

"Tch! Then piss off! We have our hands full and we don’t have time dealing with a dead weight like you!" -said the beastman as he was forced to fight a golem knight.

"..."

"You right." – said Adam as he turned around and started walking away.

(Fuck. Even walking hurts.) – thought Adam after taking a few steps.... And then stopped.

As the man tried making some distance from his comrades so he wouldn’t get in the way... But as he looked away from them, he saw "it".

Both of the B-rank adventurers with their throat slit, bleeding out as the dungeon master was slowly walking away from the two.

"MARKUS! ELIZABETH!" – shouted the terrified Adam.

"SHIT! HEY! THEY NEED HELP! HEY!" – shouted Adam in desperation as he tried slowly running towards the two adventurers.

"?"

"?!"

"THE FUCK!?" – the screams of Adam were heard by some of the adventurers, causing them to notice the scene behind them.

Obviously, some of them tried going towards the fallen duo, but because of the golem wave keep putting pressure on them, they couldn’t.

The only one who could do anything was Adam who was already moving his exhausted body towards the pair of adventurers.

Adam looked toward the golem and realized that not only it was walking very slowly, but its body was heavily injured.

(Should I attack it?! It is probably-)

(No! Shit! I can’t!) – Adam realized that even if he decided to attack the creature, he didn’t had enough strength to throw even once its spiked ball.

And the only thing he could do is try and save the duo of adventurers.

"..."

(There.) – thought Thauma as it fell on its knees, before then slowly reaching towards the fallen tank golem.

"Shit! Hey!" – said Adam as he reached the duo of adventurers, taking a proper look at their slit throats.

"!"

(Shit! Their wounds are way too deep! And they lost way too much blood!)

"!"

"Potion!" – said Adam as tried grabbing Elizabeth belt, trying to find any potion on her.... Only to realize that her potion pouch was completely smashed.

"!?"

Adam panicked and looked towards Markus next, before then searching his body.

(God dammit.) – meanwhile Thauma was trying to dig through the tank golem body at not very fast pace duo to its injuries.

The golem wary of its mana reserves tried not doing as many unnecessary movements as possible, before then finally ripping out the golem core.

"!"

(It is still in perfect condition!) – thought Thauma as it grabbed its own destroyed core and ripped it off, before then placing the new core into its body.

(This core wasn’t designed for my body and it has nowhere near enough output for me.... But I need to do it!)

(Alchemy magic!)

(Normally you need to use special tools to use basic version of it.)

(Not only that, I have skill [Mana Alchemy] and not evolved version of it, the [Magic Alchemy].)

(Meaning that I will have to rely on my base knowledge and power alone.)

(However, without proper conducts and tools, this process alone will take way too much mana!)

(This method is beyond stupid, but I need to do it!)

(I need to at least connect single connector to my body and establish connection!)

It was risky and stupid.

Art of mana alchemy isn’t something easy.

Thauma may had became a "talented" craftsman in both area of blacksmithing and alchemy, including their mana variants.... But it wasn’t at the level where it could just perfectly use both of these things on the spot.

Not only that, specific art of mana alchemy was extremely complicated and tiring, with the lack of tools, the burden and problems would also end up stockpiling.

In short, it was a pure and stupid gamble.

Thauma HAD a spare core in its room.

It could use that.

But there was no time.

Golem life was straight up running out of fuel and any form or even attempting at fighting would result in the golem losing the remaining mana it had.

Not only that, the doors itself were specialty reinforced by the golem and they can only be used with mana. If Thauma were to attempt to open up the door, it could use up a necessary mana to move around..... Meaning that it could open the door, but it may run out of the time then moment it enters the room.

So unfortunately for Thauma, this was the only thing it could do. Trying to obtain the new core.

The golem used massive amount of mana, pouring it right into the new core, trying to start it up while also trying to conduct mana alchemy.

However, without a tools needed for the alchemy process, the golem ended up burning a lot of its mana away in order to even be able to do the process, which not included the mana needed to even begin the process.

The remaining mana of the golem drained at the rapid.

Even moving a centimeter of a body and fusing it together ended up being problematic process.

The golem took its time, trying to make sure that the repairs were stable... But at the same time, its mana was leaking from its body with each passing second.

And as more mana golem lost, it could feel its body starting to slow down, getting weaker.... And its conscious getting hazier.

(No.... Just....One.... Just one.... Connection....) – Thauma could feel its mana fading away as it’s used the remaining bits of mana.

*Cough* *Cough*

"Hey! You okay?!" – shouted Adam as he held Markus’s head as the wound on his neck started closing up while the man coughed out blood.

"I-idiot...Her." – said exhausted Markus as he pointed at Elizabeth who was longer moving.

"!"

Adam quickly ran went to the Elizabeth while Markus rolled over and vomited some of the blood from his mouth.

(Bioilio potion...... A fucking potion I’ve had bought.... It cost shit tons of money, but it does it fucking job, even by just pouring it on the fucking wound.)

"Shit! SHIT! HEY!" – shouted Adam.

"It ain’t working! IT AIN’T FUCKING WORKING!"

"..."

"She is dead." – said Markus calmly as he gazed at the Elizabeth lifeless eyes.

(Her wound must had been bit deeper than mine.... And that took away time....Nah.... Even with potion, there was no telling if she were to survive.) – thought the young man as he tried standing up, only to have his hand slip up because of his own blood, causing the man to fall down.

"!"

"Shit! Stop! Even with potion, you had lost way too much blood! You need few moments before you can do anything!" – said worried Adam as the young man coughed up more blood.

"No....Not yet!" – said Markus as he tried forcing himself up.

"Where... Where is he!?"

"!"

"There!" – said Adam as he pointed at Thauma, who was just sitting on its knees, not moving.

"..."

"Kill him.... Now!" – said Markus as he gave his sword Adam.

"His core is destroyed.... But he can move.... Kill him.... Before he does anything else!"

"..."

Adam took the sword off the young man body and began walking towards golem who did not reacted what soever.... No.

It was truly not showing any signs of moving.

Its arms were just laying down, completely lifeless.

Adam was tired.

The [Berserk] skill completely drained him and put a huge amount of strain on his body... But even so, he was the only one who could do it.

Markus lost too much blood and used up all of his mana, while Elizabeth was beyond saving, even with an advance potion.

...

Adam took another step, but the golem didn’t done anything.

Adam took yet another step, but there was not even sights of reaction.

The tired warrior knew that the monster that is about to attack isn’t something normal...And then he remembers.

He remembers the faces of his two friends. The party members.

Rage surged through the man and he pushed his body forward.

His body screamed in pain, but he didn’t cared.

Revenge was all the he cared about right now.

He aimed with the sword at the golem damaged back, trying to destroy it.

The blade struck the golem and dug into its back, but didn’t went deep enough.

"AAAAAAAAAA!" – however Adam wasn’t done yet.

He tried pulling all of his remaining power, causing the blade to go deeper.

...

But in the very next moment, one of the golem’s claws suddenly came back to life.... And slashed the man across his face and neck.

"?"

In the next moment, a gush of blood suddenly began pouring out the man upper body, instantly covering the golem body in bloody.... Before moments later the man himself fell backwards.

"!"

"ADAM!" – shouted Markus.

"..."

(Reset.... Complete...) 𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖

(Stabilization.... Not perfect.... Mana usage.... Critical.)

(Simple connection.... Established.)

Thauma managed it.

The golem managed to restart its body with the new core.

And like this:

The golem has once again returned to the field.