53
“No,” Milo agreed, stepping out with Selma beside him. “I’m not.”
“And the tricky one?”
“Over here,” Tania called, still shrouded in her camouflage. Jin’s eyes sought her out but eventually gave up.
Jin gripped the mace tighter in his meaty fist. “Just so you know, I won’t go down easy. I might not hate you like Fergus does, but I’m not gonna let myself get hanged for this.”
“Why did you do it, then?”
“He’s my friend,” Jin said with a shrug. As if that explained it.
“You should’ve talked him out of it, then.”
“I tried. But the more you kept doing what you do, the more angry he got. Then Fulka joined us, and she’s even more bitter than he is. She really hates normies. Her and Fergus get along because of that.”
“Why does he hate me?” Milo asked, curious. “I never did anything to him.”
Jin blew air through his cheeks. “Shit if I know.”
“I’ll have to ask him, then.”
“You have to get past me first.” Jin cracked his knuckles. “And I ain’t easy to get past.”
Milo glanced at Selma. “You’ll be alright?”
“I’ll be fine.” She lifted the heavy sword.
“Stick to the plan.”
“Alright.”
Jin looked her up and down as she took a few steps closer. “You think I’ll not hit you because you’re a girl?”
“Why would I think that?”
“Because I’ll smash you into the ground.” He grunted. “Might feel bad about it later, because you’re easy on the eyes. But I’ll still do it.”
Milo moved to Jin’s left, aiming to go around.
“Uh-uh.” The big man shuffled to face them both. “That ain’t happening. I promised I’d hold you up. So, I’ll hold you up.”
“Someone should’ve told you your eyes are bigger than your stomach,” Selma said, dropping down into a runner’s crouch. “Look at me, Milo. Look at me!”
Then she shot forward.
A blur of dwarven bronze and pale flesh. Her chain mail rattled and clinked.
“What the-” was all Jin had time to shoot through his lips before her fist smashed into his face.
He soared backwards, hitting the wall with a crunch. Slumping, he stared with a dazed expression. His arms twitched as he struggled to recover.
Selma stood, looking disappointed but happy at the same time.
“Did ya see me, Milo?”
“How could I?” he asked wryly. “You move too fast.”
She whirled a little, showing off her legs. “I’ll move slower for ya any time.”
“Stop that, ya tramp.” Tania scowled, grabbing Milo by the shoulder and dragging him down the corridor after the others.
Selma giggled.
Then she turned back to wiggle her fingers coquettishly at Jin. The massive man was wiping at his mouth. Blood dribbled down his lips. “Hey there,” she called sweetly. “Had enough?”
“Enough?” He spat a thick globule of blood. “That weren’t a bad hit, I guess. For a girl.”
He wobbled up to his feet.
“For a gal?” Her eyes slitted. Then she shrugged, and her gaze glittered. “Well, maybe I ain’t a real girl, I guess. I know Milo thinks that way. He doesn’t see me as a lady neither. Which kinda left me a little frustrated, see? Means I’m probably gonna take it out on you. Sorry.”
“Hey, if you’re frustrated because he doesn’t see you as a woman, all you had to do was come on over. I could’ve treated you real nice.”
“Eww. I don’t need that apple sauce from you. You’re just a gross meatbag.”
“Whatever.” He pressed his fingers to his jaw and shook it. He seemed happy it wasn’t broken, so he picked up his mace. “Let’s dance anyway.”
“Sure thing, creep. Give it your best and I’ll shine your buttons.”
He charged, arm lighting up as electricity crackled around his fist. More sparked off his mace as he lifted it high above his head.
Letting out a roar, he brought it down with all his strength.
Selma’s sword flashed as it blocked the mace.
“Dumb move,” he snarled as he unleashed lightning up his mace. It tore down the blade of her sword and arced into her body.
Enough voltage to fry flesh.
His mouth was a wide smirk.
“Ooh,” Selma said sweetly, then kicked him hard between the legs. He dropped. “That tickles.”
Coughing blood and retching in pain, he stared down at her boots.
“No…” He choked. “You ain’t wearing no wire!”
“Wire?”
He lifted his head, still clutching his crotch. “How’d you take my lightning if you ain’t wearing a wire?”
“Oh! That old thing.” She reached for a small pouch on her hip. “I forgot about that. Milo said I should wear it, didn’t he? Oops.”
“I don’t… understand…”
“Thanks for the reminder.” She patted Jin on the head then got down onto one knee to start tying the little wire to her ankle. “It’d be a lot to explain if I had to tell the mages I didn’t need it when fighting you, wouldn’t it? That old creep Finklestern wouldn’t believe me at all.”
“How?”
“Golemskin,” she explained, standing up again and plucking at the skin on her forearm. “It’s got a layer of insulation. Electricity and golems aren’t really very compatible, ya know.”
He pushed himself to his feet, more confused than before. “Golem… skin…?”
“Yeah, silly. Why?” She pulled back her arm. “Did ya think I was a real gal? How sweet of ya!”
The punch to his head threw him back again.
When he recovered, she was standing right where she’d been crooking a finger. “Come on, creep. I thought ya wanted to dance.”
That’s when Jin knew he was going to die.
“You ain’t human,” he rasped. “You ain’t human at all.”
“Bingo!” She giggled. “Took ya long enough.”
“I need… I need to tell…”
“Nobody,” she said. “You ain’t about to tell nobody, creep. This ain’t no petting party. It’s the real deal. Only one way you get out alive. Think you can take me?”
His fingers squeezed around the mace.
“I gotta. I gotta take you.”
He launched himself at her, swinging wildly. The mace crackled with electricity. As soon as he was close, he lifted his free hand and blasted her with a torrent of lightning more powerful than before.
“Die!”
Bolts as thick as her wrists smashed into her torso, making her frame vibrate.
She grit her teeth as she felt it snap and crackle through her body.
Even though the Golemskin was good, and the insulation great, it still burned. A web of black tore up her chest and down her belly.
He held it as long as he could. Foaming at the mouth as he squeezed every drop of mana he could. Trying to punch a hole through her with plasma.
When he ran out, the light flashed once and he stared into Selma’s eyes.
Saw sparks snap at the edge of her pupils.
Slowly, she smiled at him. “In your dreams, creep.”
She whirled on him with the blade, smashing into his mace as he brought it up. Whirled again. Hammering him back one step at a time.
But he was right about one thing.
He wasn’t completely easy. Even without mana, Jin had a body he’d honed through years of work. He’d spent hours every day ensuring he was tough enough to cover any threat.
Strong enough to push anything back.
Add to that his combat training. And the experience in dungeons.
And while he’d been overwhelmed by the golem’s strength and surprised by her resistance to his lightning, he recovered fast. His instinct for survival refused to let him be pushed around for long.
With a roar, he drove himself into her attack. One hand seizing her wrist. The other wrenching at her hand.
The sword dropped free.
He felt a crunch.
Heard Selma grunt.
Then he slammed his elbow into her gut and threw himself down. It was a good call. Her arm which had been sweeping down to crush his head, missed by a hair.
A hair and a half at most.
He felt it whoosh past.
“Blast,” he grunted, mind racing as he rolled into her legs, trying to trap her.
Wrestle her down, he was thinking. Wrestle her to the ground. Break her bones. Or whatever it was she was made of. Panic cut through his guts as they crashed to the ground together.
Somehow, he got on top of her.
Somehow, he got a clean blow to her face.
And again.
Pinning her arms, he pounded her head. Shouting wordlessly. Feeling desperation grow and grow as she absorbed every blow.
Absorbed it while giggling.
“Shut up!” He howled. “Shut up!”
It only made her giggle louder.
Nothing.
No matter how hard he hit her, she didn’t bleed. She didn’t bruise. Her nose didn’t even break.
The only blood on her was his own.
“What are you?” He croaked, panting hard as he realized he couldn’t punch her anymore. “What are you?”
“I’m Milo’s,” she said, pulling her arms out from under him as though they’d never been trapped. She put her hands around his biceps. And gently moved him off of her. “I’m his golem. He made me.”
“Golem?” Jin shook his head. “But they don’t look human. They can’t.”
“Sure they can.” Selma giggled as she rolled out and squatted in front of him. She tapped her chest. “Am I pretty?”
“Huh?”
“Am I pretty? You know. If I were a normal girl, would you think I was pretty?”
He swallowed hard, not knowing what to say. Then slowly nodded. “Yeah. Yeah, you’re more than that.”
She patted his cheek. “That’s real nice of you to say. Just for that, I’ll kill you quickly now. You won’t feel a thing.”
He gulped as she reached for the sword.
Then his eyes found a tile. Only a few feet away.
A red circle drawn on top.
Something he never would’ve considered getting near.
“Blast it.” He sighed. “I’ll take you with me, you mad bitch.”
Then he dove for the tile. Slapped his hand down on it and rolled onto his back as the ceiling split open and gleaming arms of dwarven bronze dropped down with a clatter.
Selma glanced up. “Those look painful.”
The saws in the arms buzzed to life, screaming in steel rage.
“I win.” Jin coughed blood as one of the arms chopped towards him. “I win.”