Eva sat perched on a rooftop in the Dark City. Rain was pouring down in the Forgotten Shores today. She took in a deep breath, Milo had arrived at the Slums, and she had no idea how to feel about it.
On one hand, he would be a huge boon for the overall war that would be up and coming, if he figured out how to use his Dormant and Innate Aspect together he could essentially create an armory rivaling that of Stev's. On the other, as soon as he learned about Eva's presence in the Slums or association with it, he would probably go right back to the Bright Castle and create an armory on that side.
Eva shook her head, she can always just pull a Sunny and run away from the cohort. It's not like there was a shortage of places to hide out in the Dark City. She could even steal Sunny's spot, maybe score herself one of Saint's cousin.
'That would be the dream.'
But alas, she was stuck her hunting down a mistake that Carmen had left. Sure enough, heavy footsteps came into range. Eva crouched lower, and she looked forward to see her target in person for the first time.
The first thing she noticed was how huge it was. It was perhaps as big as the Carapace Demon. She let out silent curse at how menacing the thing looked. A massive, loud, and slow copper golem with multiple tubes and pipes running through itself. It's eyes had a molten glow to them that you really only saw in movies, its left arm took on the form of a four headed bulky hammer. It's right arm had a three finger hand that Eva was sure had another function, but the database never mentioned it.
It also seems that the upload of Carmen into her Proof of Cooperation didn't know either, which felt redundant, what was the guy even here for?
The copper golem was dragging the corpse of some poor Nightmare Creature with the hand. This thing was anything but subtle, and Eva was surprised that some other Nightmare Creature hadn't tried to jump on it yet.
The copper golem entered the building Eva was perched on. Eva knew quite a bit about this thing, it had an energy cycle, meaning that if Eva attacked right now the copper golem would be at its weakest with little battery left to keep it up and kicking.
Eva walked across the rooftop quietly, having made her way to a hole she made earlier. Upon reaching it and peering in she let out an annoyed groan.
'I miscalculated.'
The hole was just a few feet away from where the golem was now resting. With this, her surprise attack wasn't ruined, just slightly off target. The blast should still do some damage.
Eva summoned a Memory she received from a care package. To be frank, she could save these, however, this threat felt a bit too big to not use some utility on. In her hand appeared a grenade, or the general shape of one. Instead of your usual green deadly ball of shrapnel, it was instead a light grey and shaped into a large cylinder. It reminded Eva of those flashbang models you'd see in shooters.
Regardless of Carmen's strange design choices, she pulled the safety pin, held the grenade over the hole, and dropped it in.
Carmen backed up from the hole and hid behind a small bump in the roof the best she could just in case. In seconds, a loud boom exploded from within the building.
[Your Memory has been destroyed]
Eva quickly dropped down from the rooftop. She could already hear the golem waking up.
She ran into the building and was instantly hit with the waft of charred and exploded bits of meat. This is probably where it was storing all the Nightmare Creatures it killed, one could only imagine how many soul shards it had gathered.
Eva quickly summoned the [Stone Blade], the weighty stone great sword appeared in her right hand. She rushed forward and attacked the golem before it could recognize her presence... the problem was this thing barely had any damn weak spots.
Carmen had created this golem to be some sort of sweeper for places he planned on building things, and he had left one in the Forgotten Shores to claim some soul shards for him... however.
'This thing went on a rampage that even he couldn't stop. However, after hundreds of years here, it should've rusted down right?'
Eva tested her theory by not going for any weak points and just trying to pierce through the copper armor of the golem. While her sword did not pierce through the armor, it did leave a small scratch... and that was all Eva needed.
She pushed off the ground and launched herself back as the its left hand crashed down on where she had been standing just a moment ago. Suddenly, the golem raised its right hand and the hand... shot out?
Even with her future vision, she barely managed to swat away the hand turned projectile with her sword. The three fingers on the hand were lodged into a nearby wall. Eva attempted to counter attack only for her future vision to warn her of a chunk of wall flying towards her behind.
She quickly jumped up and angled her feet, the speedy wall became a foothold as she zoomed towards the golem. She steadied her hand as the blade aligned with the golems head.
Then, she pushed off the wall right as the right hand had returned to its place. The golem staggered a bit, but seemed rather undeterred at the loss of its new head.
'Right, if Carmen put any vital parts, it'd be in the most heavily armored area.'
Eva ducked under another swing of the golem's hammer. She quickly dismissed the [Stone Blade] in favor of a much more blunt Memory. The [Serenity] was a golden hued spiked mace that nearly stood as tall as Eva herself.
She steadied herself and smoothly swung the Serenity. The mace's golden hue glowed gently. The golem met the swing with devastating speed. Yet they still stalemated, and as the clash went on longer, Eva was winning.
Memory: [Serenity]
Memory Rank: [Awakened]
Memory Type: [Weapon]
Memory Description: [A graceful nun once wielded this golden mace with a gentle and calm demeanor. Her paced and purposeful proved to be to strong for many who had already lost their minds.]
Eva couldn't read on what exactly the Memory was supposed to be thanks to her not being a Forger, however the Memory Description gave plenty context as to what this mace could do.
Simply put, the more calm one was in battle, the stronger their swings were. It's why Eva was containing her swings and keeping them smooth. With this huge boost, she was able to rival the golem in strength.
The fight continued with the golem attempting to swing at Eva with large and devasting blows, only to be countered by the [Serenity]. Eva got her hits in where she could, eventually creating a noticeable hole in the armor of the golem, exposing its fiery orange insides.
Suddenly, as Eva moved to block yet another devasting blow, the golem suddenly switched attacks. Eva barely managed to move the mace from an upwards hold to a sidewards hold. With the sudden change in direction, the Serenity's enchantments had deactivated.
Eva was sent flying back, crashing into the wall. She felt the air leave her lungs as she fell forward. Her cobalt scaled armor was now covered in dust and dirt. She felt some of the cool air that had slipped its way inside the building settle on her skin.
'My back plate is completely screwed.'
Eva dismissed the [Serenity], and summoned a ball shaped Memory.
'At least this one is actually shaped like a grenade.'
She quickly pulled the safety pin and kept her fingers still, at least the ones that were holding the grenade. Eva dashed towards the golem. The golem yet again shot out its hand, and Eva slid underneath it.
Eva then used the rope retracing as a makeshift zipline, she was lucky to have gloves on unless she wanted some nasty rugburn.
Now near the golems chest, she pried open the wound that was left by the [Serenity] as best she could. As soon as the grenade could fit, she tossed it in. Kicking herself off of the copper golem, Eva ran as far and fast as she could.
The entrance was close, but not close enough. Turning left, she saw the remnants of Nightmare Creatures, their bodies creating a sizeable pile, she quickly dived behind the pile.
A bang rang throughout the room as the grenade exploded. A second passed, then a much louder boom followed. The smell of fire found itself in Eva's nose.
[You have slain a Fallen Monster, Carmen's Golem]
Eva let out a tired sigh... she was lucky she had so much knowledge on this damn thing. It would've had so much more options to choose from if she had chosen to attack it at any other point of time. Even thirty seconds of fighting might've been enough to even the odds.
Too bad Eva would do everything in her favor to keep the odds on her side. Even if that meant changing some major events of the story. Such as Sunny's discovery of Shadow Dance. If she took into account the upcoming expedition in six months, she needed to make her allies as powerful as possible.
Eva had to move quick, there was only so much time before some Nightmare Creature realized this place was now ripe for the picking. She needed to return before nighttime after all.
She searched the building, which considering the old tools that practically turned into dust upon contact, along with the multiple furnaces and anvils ordered around, it was a clearly a workshop.
'And in every workshop...'
Eva opened up a narrow door, and what rolled to her feet was truly glorious, hundreds of soul shards all for Eva to take.
"I don't even know if Glutton's Sack can handle all of this."
Just then, Eva heard a chittering outside. "Shit." Eva quickly stashed what she could in a minute before immediately heading out of a back entrance, she jumped from rooftop to rooftop. The Slums were bound to have a huge breakthrough with Milo there, especially in terms of armory quality. He might even make some exclusive gear for Nephis and Sunny.
'I should probably hang back for a bit and let Milo do what he's supposed to do.'
Eva looked back at the Dark City as the sun was setting... yeah no chance in hell she was staying there, it was back to the slums with her.