The stone golem was pushed back a step and then some, sliding along the hard-packed dirt. Not because of the [Reflect] enchantment, but because James had already been swinging his hammer, and instinctively poured as much mana as he could into the [Heavy Blow] enchantment once his shield had shattered.

James was also sent flying back by the simultaneous blows.

BAM

He crashed into the wall, banging his head inside his helmet even as the rush came upon him. He tried to let go of the handle of his ruined shield, and he couldn't.

His fingers were stuck.

His mind raced. He had to get up, he had to switch shields, he needed to move—

The stone golem had found its balance first, and was swinging another giant stone arm.

Desperate, James stored the shield fragment in his magic bag. A desperate gamble he hadn't known would pay off. Then, he tried to summon his shield into his hand, at the ready…

And that failed.

James took the hit on the chest and was slammed into the stone wall, leaving an indent. His armor, heroically, resisted the strike, but not nearly as well as James had expected from [Earth Resistance] armor.

Earth magic is a subtle thing. The basic enchantment [Earth Resistance] provides protection from Earth affinity. It increases resistance to petrification, some poisons and toxins, and some forms of oscillatory magic. But in the same way that James had been relying on the [Heavy Blow] enchantment—for there's not much that can resist a large physical impact—now James found himself on the receiving end.

The stone golem, though powered by Earth magic, was not using magic as part of its attacks.

It was simply hitting really, really hard.

And James was wearing simple Iron armor.

Clang!

James' armor rang like a bell and dented, putting a heavy pressure on his chest, restricting his breathing.

He felt more than heard the soft cracks of his ribs breaking.

His numb hand finally closed on the handle of his large iron tower shield, the thickest shield he had, and jerked it up over his body pressed into the wall just in time to block the follow up strike from the golem.

CRASH

The shield dented.

The shield dented.

James had never been properly trained as a Smith. He didn't know about metallic alloys. He didn't know about advanced forging techniques like oversmithing, substrate compression, or multimetallic layering. And iron, though resistant to cutting, is susceptible to blunt force.

James pushed himself out of the wall with the rebound of the strike, and the next strike hit him from the side, pushing him back from the stone golem.

The shield was heavy, and James was hurting, and he couldn't breathe, and the golem was coming at him again, faster than he expected.

He jammed the spikes into the ground and met the strike, pushing into it like he had with the tackles of the mole monsters over a year ago.

This worked in the sense that he met the force of the strike without being knocked off balance.

It failed in the sense that something in his right arm broke as the shield was slammed into his pauldron, denting it and bruising his shoulder.

But he landed the counter.

[Hammer Strike]

[Heavy Blow]

BAM

The hammer crashed into the stone golem's chest, and chunks of rock fell, revealing a dim brown light glowing in the monster's chest.

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That was all James saw before the golem kicked James' shield and sent him flying back. He bounced off the wall at an angle, spinning, and lost his grip on the shield which fell away with a thump on the ground.

James staggered, dizzy, nauseous, unable to catch his breath. There was a stabbing pain in his chest now, too, to join the stabbing pain in his stomach. His back found the wall, and then he saw the golem coming in fast, striking, aiming for the hammer in his hand.

He couldn't move in time.

WHAM!

Crunch

The Earth War Hammer fell to the ground, with James' left hand still wrapped around the handle.

Time seemed to slow for James as he stood there watching his dismembered arm fall to the ground. His eyes flicked to where his arm had been. The stone golem's punch had crushed and severed everything from his mid-upper arm to just below his elbow, leaving him with a stump. The Brown Iron armor had been crushed as well, pinching the wound closed. As he saw it, the pain swept over him, but it paled in comparison to the realization that it was over.

Everything was over.

James knew of only two ways to recover from a lost limb: advanced Holy magic spells, and the legendary concoction Elixir.

Both had to be used within hours of the loss of limb before it became permanent.

He was currently trapped in a Dungeon, in the wilderness somewhere days away from even small villages, deep in the mountains.

And that had been his good hand.

He would never be a Smith, now.

Everything he had ever wanted to be was now impossible.

Despair swept through him in less time than it takes to blink, and then there was anger. James saw red, and his world narrowed to just the stone golem.

He was as good as dead, but he wasn't going out alone.

He'd kill this thing if it was the last thing he did.

Everything hurt, but nothing mattered more than wrapping his numb, slow, stiff fingers as tightly as he could around the handle of his other Earth War Hammer in his magic bag.

The stone golem raised its arms for an overhand blow, aiming for his head. It was standing right in front of him, brown light glimmering in its chest.

James swung artlessly. He couldn't use any Technique with his right hand. But he poured as much mana as he could into the enchantment.

[Heavy Blow]

It caught the golem around the hip, and pushed it back, off balance for just a moment.

One moment long enough for the son of two Brawlers to push off the wall and bring his own hammer up for an overhand strike to the monster's chest.

James pushed his mana harder than he ever had. There was a crackle from the hammer's head, and it, too, glowed with a brown light.

The Smith and the golem swung at the same time.

But the Smith was moving forward, and the golem was standing still, slightly on the backfoot.

James' strike landed first.

BOOM!!

James slammed his hammer into the brown light in the golem's chest, shattering the Earth Jewel to pieces along with his hammer, which had overloaded its enchantment and also shattered.

The golem was pushed back, but its arms still struck a glancing blow to James' head as it fell, ringing his helmet like a bell and concussing him.

They both fell at the same time. The golem, now dead, on its back. James, on his front.

Enchanter Class has reached level 16.

Smith Class has reached level 16.

The intrusive thoughts went unnoticed as James blacked out. For how long, he couldn't say.

When he woke, he was dully surprised. Blood had pooled inside his helmet and congealed along the side of his head. Breathing hurt. His arm hurt. He was light headed.

He vomited, which also hurt. Salty-sour bile, blood, and half-digested tentacle flesh pooled in his helmet.

He raised his arm but couldn't get a grasp on his helmet—

Oh. His arm was missing.

He tried with his other arm, but his fingers were stuck around the handle of his hammer.

[Appraisal: Broken Earth War Hammer, Quality: Very Low, Durability: 0/19, Enchantment: Heavy Blow (Overloaded)

He could barely see out his helmet full of slowly leaking fluids, but only the handle was left. The head had shattered to pieces, now scattered around him.

It hurt. It hurt so much, but he used his stump and his arm and managed to pull his helmet off entirely, letting the various fluids splatter down his dented cuirass.

Time seemed to pass in fits and starts from then on. One moment he was trying to get his arm to go into his magic bag, the next he was walking through a cavern with no recollection of how he had gotten there. Now his hand, his numb, ruined, right hand, was wrapped around his original Earth War Hammer.

He poured mana into the enchantment and swung clumsily at something, obliterating it.

He walked down the center of a cavern, ignoring tunnels.

A small room.

Another cavern.

Another small room. He was thirsty, and breathing heavily. New bruises, blood running down his leg. He looked down, wondering where his left arm had gone. Metal was pinched shut around the end, and blood had congealed around the edges.

A dark tunnel.

Stairs.

He was sobbing. He was puzzled a moment until he remembered.

He'd never be a Smith.

He'd never escape this Dungeon.

It was never going to end until he was dead.

Climbing the stairs hurt. There was a stabbing pain in his chest with every breath.

His head hurt. Where were his parents? He needed their help. He wanted to apologize, he needed to find them.

He stumbled. It was bright now. Brighter than any floor before, save the… that one. The one with… he couldn't remember. Second brightest, then. He pushed through brush and leaves and branches.

He jerked, nearly losing his balance. Gotta watch out, watch out for the bushes, might be monsters…

A noise. Yelling.

James hadn't known his heart could sink any further.

The slavers must have found him.

He swung his hammer, pouring mana into each swing, but they danced around him, yelling. One over-zealous swing combined with the lack of balance from missing an arm took him to the ground, and he lay there a moment, feeling nothing but pain and regret, before he passed out.

And so it was that the Aspirant Knight found the Smith, missing an arm, clad in crude, broken Brown Iron armor, wielding a war hammer with an enchantment as strong as any he had ever seen, carrying the Legendary Bag of Holding that had been missing for over sixty years, while on a routine patrol deep in the hinterlands of the kingdom of Iberteria, seven years before the Demon Army's Landing.

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