Psychokinetic Eyeball Pulling

Chapter 209: Ixtalian Construct + Announcement!

The statue was no statue at all. It was a golem. Fifteen metres high, and wide enough to use its chest as a dance floor, the golem moved. It fully intended to protect whatever was within the room.

Scarlet red eyes like that of shining orbs, the armour surrounding the golem cracked, revealing gaps in the armour so that it could move. However, it was clear it wasn’t just made from magic. Intricate gears were visible through the gaps of the golems carapace, and each one moved as if they had a mind of their own.

A machine?

Astrid was about to attack it, but for some reason, Darian’s words were stuck in her mind. To seek peace, rather than war. It was a foreign concept to her when it came to potential enemies, but perhaps he was right?

level ??? - Ixtalian Construct

Useless skill. What’s the point if everything is too high level? Astrid sighed, then, she pointed to the golem.

“I want peace!” Astrid shouted.

Despite her calming words, the golem looked at her with those blazing scarlet eyes. Or, well technically they were jewels, or stones, not fleshy eyes. But it mattered little to Astrid.

“I want peace!” She repeated, but this time, she decided to hand the construct a little welcoming gift.

A psychokinetic blast to the face, to be exact.

The psychic blast resulted in the air in the room swirling with dust. It wasn’t Astrid’s most intelligent move, but it had revealed something when the air finally settled. From the blast, shining gold was revealed under the dense layer of dust, and rock that had long covered the golem like a second skin.

The armour was engraved in the same scribble that she had seen in the tunnels.

However, it seemed that the construct didn’t enjoy her peace gift as Astrid could feel the air in the room increase. Steam ejected out of whatever holes were in its back, then it moved.

With the time it took to blink, the golem was already in front of Astrid. Enormous golden metal fist arriving at her face, Astrid blinked to the side with a readied eyeball, then followed up with an attack of her own.

Purple void energy thrashing within her hand, Astrid threw a hastily formed bullet at the gap within the golems arm. She missed. Astrid wasn’t given enough time to aim, but thankfully, the bullet still made contact with its chest.

A piercing clang rang throughout the room, but apart from the loud noise, there was only a small mark from where her void bullet had struck.

There goes a full frontal attack. Astrid thought, and immediately blinked away from the oncoming golem.

Despite the sheer size of the monster, it’s movement was staggering. If she had to guess, it was even faster than Losef, who was more focused on the speed side of things as a warrior. Although the level difference was huge, the fact remained.

It wasn’t going to be an easy opponent.

Astrid, blinking away from the oncoming locomotive-like golem, aimed for the weak parts in the constructs joints instead.

However, she was quick to realise just how strong the gears within the gaps of its armour actually were. Even after she managed to fire a void bullet within, it merely dented the gear. And in the next moment, it regenerated itself. As if there was a little healer inside, re-mending the metal.

Knowing that she couldn’t continue like this, Astrid had to think of another way to defeat the monster.

Sending an eye to its back, she blinked, repositioned herself behind the construct, and got a good look at the masterpiece that was the plated armour. It was just one big slab of golden metal. It was evident that it wasn’t gold, as the luxurious metal was generally weak, but the illustrious markings on its back stumped even Astrid.

It was a work of art.

The image carved into the golem’s back depicted a beautiful woman. She was laying down, hands on her chest, cradling something within her gentle hands–

Astrid immediately dodged, feeling the mana within the air churn. It was the same feeling she had experienced when she was floating in front of the pyramid. It was the same energy as the cannon.

The construct’s palm opened up, then shot a ballistae of pure, unadulterated mana straight at her.

Heart beat rising, Astrid blinked away from the incoming shot. She tried repositioning to its back once more, but the high speed giant wouldn’t let her. Instead, Astrid found herself losing patience.

She connected to the gemmed eyes within the golem’s sockets, and pulled as hard as her current psychic powers would let her. There was a strain on her mind, and then the sound of ripping. Astrid yanked out the scarlet jewels, and swiftly placed them into her Void Storage.

The Ixtalian Construct didn’t like that.

With a new found purpose, it turned wild. Chaotic. Like an untamed jungle, it whipped its arms around the room without target.

For Astrid, she focused on the golem’s legs. Targeting them, soon, the construct was forced to fall into the compacted sand of the room.

Finally, she managed to get another look at the giant's back.

The object within the woman’s hands appeared to be a fruit. Waiting for the construct to stop thrashing around, Astrid could see that it was actually an apple. And despite it just being a picture, red lines were scored into the fruit.

Who was she? The creator of the construct, perhaps? Astrid couldn’t help but wonder about the history of the machine, but she had time to stare in awe at the Ixtalian’s advanced technology.

Because the giant machine was climbing back to its feet.

That wasn’t all. The sand in the surrounding area lifted from the ground, and moved from the constructs feet, all the way up its body until it covered it like a second skin.

It sent a punch forward, yet it still stood ten or so metres away from Astrid. However, the sand that had covered its body, took the form of a fist, and hurtled straight for Astrid’s small body.

Snarling, Astrid sent numerous Crashes against the sand fist, destroying it. But the construct sent another, and another, and it didn’t intend to stop.

Like an engine with unlimited energy, it just kept throwing fist after fist.

Enough is enough. Astrid blinked to the side. She had a plan, but she didn’t know if it would work. Well, she had to try. It would take her all day to brute force the golem’s armour. It was time she didn’t have.

Astrid blinked three times, dodging all of the incoming sand fists, but on the fourth attempt, the giant suddenly turned. Like lightning, it tore through the suspended eye, and then stomped on the ground the next instant.

A pillar of sand shot up at Astrid, colliding against the voidbent armour hidden underneath Zephyrion’s robes. Grains of hardened condensed sand against alien metal, Astrid was struck against the high ceiling of the tomb.

She felt the impact strike the fleshy innards of her body, and ignoring the pain from the hit, Astrid snarled, and sent eyes in the dozens all around the room.

Not sparing any mana, she blinked in quick succession. Narrowly dodging the high powered sand strikes. using half of her mana in an instant, she appeared behind the constructs back.

Please work! Astrid chanted within her mind as she placed her hand on the golden metal.

She used Disintegration.

Astrid sucked in a deep breath filled with dust and sand as the skill used a vast portion of whatever mana she had left.

At first her heart sank, thinking that she had just wasted a large portion of her mana on a fruitful attack. But the next moment, the metal groaned. It distorted. Wrinkles appeared on the surface of the strange woman, and around her. From the centre of the enormous plate, it contracted, like a black hole underneath the surface.

Then the plate of armour vanished.

In front of Astrid’s widened eyes, there was a core. At first she thought it would be like a battery, and in some ways, it was. But it wasn’t created from a machine, instead, it was a seed. A seed from the jungle.

Astrid wasn’t sure how a seed was capable of holding so much raw mana. But all she knew was that she had to destroy it. Placing her hand on the seed, she could feel the mana surging through her body. It sent a tingle from her palm, to her spine.

Instantly, her mana container was restored, and then a stinging pain from the depths of her stomach made her flinch backward. If she absorbed any more, her container would explode.

She had to be quick.

Astrid placed her hand back on the core, then activated Disintegration. Nothing happened. It’s because it’s alive. Frowning, she couldn’t give the golem time to use any more skills.

Void energy forming in her palm, she blasted the core until the energy dissipated from within. Like a battery being torn apart, the power charging the construct was no more.

Groaning, the golem fell forward, slamming into the floor.

You defeated an Ixtalian Construct - Level 310

…

| Extra experience is granted for defeating an enemy many levels above!

You have Levelled up!

| Oculus Witch Level 225-> Oculus Witch Level 234

| Voidmare Level 225 -> Voidmare Level 234

You have gained 90 stat points.

| You now have 2106 Intelligence.

Astrid grinned from her victory. Her insides felt like they were on fire, but other than that, she was in top shape thanks to the battery charge from the constructs core.

She decided to keep on increasing her Intelligence. After all, she didn’t really need the extra range anymore from Wisdom. The only reason Astrid would want to increase it further, was to improve the accuracy with long range bullets.

But it wasn’t really needed. Not with her current toolset, anyway.

I’m getting close to finally defeating a level three-hundred and fifty. Astrid clenched her fist.

Maybe she could complete that within the trial, finish the mission, then she would unlock the two-thousand Intelligence milestone.

She was almost there.

With that as the motivation, Astrid plucked the seed from the construct’s chest, and examined it. Surprise tugged at her heart. Or more accurately, Void Storage.

Confused, she looked within, only to notice that the Seed of War that she had kept within her storage was… squirming.