DIE TRYING [A Roguelite Extraction LitRPG]

well well well, look who's having fun now eh? (￢‿￢ )

Wade remained hiding, waiting for his health to tick back up to one hundred before he went out there again. The golem had lost it's last ranged weapon, now taking out those two front facing floating hands, palms out. Like the skeletons before him, it was aiming to squish the problem if it couldn't shoot it.

The issue with that plan is that Wade was way faster and could hide just about anywhere. That golem was in deep shit, even with that absurd level.

It was time. Wade put the phone back into his pocket, took a few breaths and raced off outside.

The streets had gone quiet. Too quiet. He waited for the one thing that would let him find the golem without line of sight.

It didn't take long for the golem to break down another building as it moved through the city to search for the threat.

He turned and raced down the alleyway, following the noise of stones being ripped apart.

The building across from him imploded, stone and metal collapsing inward as the golem's massive hand floated back up to hover vertically, palms out. Dust billowed out in thick clouds as the rest of the unit collapsed.

Wade ducked low, scurrying between shadows. The lootbox had to be somewhere in these alleys.

There - a glint of silver beneath scattered debris. Wade pulled a few rocks off of it, and snatched up the chest, its weight familiar in his hands. Perfect. He'd just need to get in close and-

"UNREGISTERED SLAVE DETECTED. ELIMINATING."

The golem's head snapped toward him, eye crystal aimed right at him. Both palms shot forward, creating a wall between Wade, cutting off his escape paths.

Had it been fucking waiting for him to come back for this chest?!

It was on now. That golem had visual contact with him. The palms started driving into one heavy clap, as if Wade was an insect to squash between.

He ran for it, his blackrot enhanced leap sending him out of the path right before the hands clapped together. Like a flea escaping the execution.

The golem's blue eye stared back at him as he landed back on solid ground and sprinted off far faster than any human possibly could.

It looked almost incredulous. "UPDATING THREAT LEVEL. ADJUSTING TACTIC MODULE."

"Yeah fuck you too!" Wade said, jumping off the side of a wall and hurling the chest with everything he had, straight for that eye. He didn't have time to hit it with Illy's daggers in this short span of time, but it'd be good info to see what he could do with just the chest alone.

One hand shot up with ease, palm out, blocking the chest with a crunch. And as the health bar above the giant thing indicated, it wasn't the chest that had gone crunch. The golem had taken just minor amounts of damage from that. Not even one percent.

But the skyviper debuff triggered and started eating away at two percent after ten seconds.

That was fine with Wade, it just meant even if he ran out of daggers, he could run circles around this thing and whittle it to death. It had no ranged weapons. And so long as it had an overall health bar floating above its head, Wade could make it bleed.

But he realized there was a problem: The golem's eye focused on the undented silver chest instead of chasing after Wade. One hand swooped down, slamming into the lootbox with enough force to crack the stone beneath it.

"ELIMINATING WEAPON."

Wade gave a string of cursing. This was unacceptable. First, that was his lootbox. Second, silver could probably sell for a good amount at a pawnshop. And third - that was HIS LOOTBOX. Also his current best weapon too, but the real point stands. Wade did not appreciate the golem trying to be smart.

The hand went up, the blue eye checked down at it's work.

Silver remained squashed into the ground, completely unscratched. The entire area around it was a different story.

It really was indestructible. "Hah! Get fucked!" Wade called out, whooping. He wasn't shy about this either, still trying to get the golem to leave his lootbox alone.

"ADUSTING TACTICS." The golem said. The hand rose... and then slapped down again and again, each impact sending tremors through the ground. But the chest barely showed a scratch. The silver surface still gleamed in the dim light, its metal completely intact. Not even warped or dented. The construct's massive hands slapped down ten more times on the chest, its own health ticking down with each strike against the seemingly indestructible box.

It basically ate five percent more of its own health, leaving the hands mangled while the box was unbroken. Finally it stopped, both hands raising up, palms still outwards as usual, taking a default stance as if in quiet contemplation.

Level 122 Nathir Security Golem - 64%

Wade watched the spectacle from his newest hiding spot. "What you gonna do now buddy?" He whispered, finding the whole thing hilarious.

"CONFISCATING WEAPON." The golem announced, like it had heard him and wanted to give him a personal fuck-you.

The golem's massive hands rotated, fingers curling inward to grasp the silver chest. With mechanical precision, it lifted the box from the crater its attempts had created. Wade watched from behind a half-collapsed wall as the construct marched toward the main street, crushing it's way through any debris or broken walls.

"HAZARDOUS WEAPON SECURED. DISPOSAL REQUEST SUBMITTED."

Wade went on overdrive trying to figure out how to get his lootbox back. Now it was personal. He dove into the first Nathir slave unit he could, grabbing tools and picks off the walls before sprinting right back out.

The golem continued walking away, carrying the lootbox up high. Wade gave a string of English insults that ended up translated to Nathir as he chucked tool after tool that he could. The health bar flashed red, still showing no percentage down, but the skyviper archer debuff once more applied and continued eating away at it.

His lootbox was being kidnapped. Right before his eyes. He needed to do more damage. And if hitting the armored sections was giving him negligible results, then he'll hit the broken weapon slabs.

Wade did just that, hopping and skipping after the golem while flinging everything in his hands at the stone sections.

It didn't even notice while it lumbered slowly, walking away. And Wade realized that was deliberate. Because he'd caught up real fast to it, and got a little too close by accident.

The golem's spare hand instantly twirled on that invisible circle, extended out, and then slapped hard for him. Only sheer reflex saw him leap to safty, and only sheer luck after that let him jump to the right just as the hand tried to followup with a grab. Unsucessful, the golem's hand rose back up and returned to the default state.

It had done this without turning it's eye on Wade. "You sneaky motherfucker." Wade hissed, keeping a distance. It had almost killed him by luring Wade into a false sense of security, using the lootbox as bait. Or was Wade giving the golem itself more credit then earned? He really could have just triggered some automated self-defense protocol.

The chest still dangled between its hands like a child's toy as the golem finally reached the center street. It lowered the box with surprising gentleness, placing it dead center on the metal floor. The hands released their grip and returned to their default position, hovering at its sides with palms facing outward.

Wade ducked into safety, out of sight.

The golem's body swiveled back toward Wade's last known position, that unsettling blue eye scanning the area where it had seen him disappear around the corner of the building.

"RESUMING PURSUIT."

Wade didn't stick around to be found, he turned and sprinted away, past a few units until he found one he'd left opened. No sound came as he swiftly raced inside and slumped against a wall catching his breath.

Strength was keeping him fast, but his stamina was still proportional to his body. He'd run at a faster overall distance, but he could still only run for the same amount of time that he'd been able to before.

His phone buzzed.

That was hilarious (≧▽≦) It actually got mad at not squashing the chest lol

"Yeah, real funny. Now it's got my fucking weapon though."

Almost baited you with it too. RIP silver lootbox, that thing's smarter than it looks.

He looked out the window from this unit and could see the golem was keeping the chest in view, while it smashed building after building. If he tried to make a run for the chest, he'd get squashed halfway.

Why did it put the chest in the center of the street? Was it actually baiting him?

The manhole's right in range rn ┐(￣ヮ￣)┌
Just run for it lol

He stopped with his plans, thinking. "Wait, fuck, you're right. I could just run."

He'd made enough commotion now, Illy and Selena must be primed to bolt out the moment they saw a chance to do something or if he was in danger. All they were waiting for was for that manhole cover to be opened up.

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It's ranged weapons had been disabled.

You could literally walk circles around it, getting out of here would be cake now.

The construct moved with all the grace of a drunk karen. Even with its impressive stride length, the thing couldn't speed anywhere worth shit from the sheer weight it was carrying around.

The manhole cover lay about fifty yards away, a straight shot down the main street. With the golem still searching the wrong area…

Wade took a deep breath, stretched his legs, and prepared for the last sprint out. The golem's footsteps grew louder, but it was still checking buildings in the wrong direction. Perfect.

Getting to the manhole cover took two seconds flat. The skeleton remains were everywhere here, broken picks and bones getting kicked out of his way.

A moment later, he reached his blackrotten fingers down, grabbed hold of the inner handles, and started to lift.

It held down firm, too heavy. Wade didn't stop, grunting hard. He felt his back undulate with blackrot, his arms and legs equally start wiggling in place under his clothing.

The manhole lifted up, slightly. Then was moved to the right and finally dropped.

Wade looked over to the street. The golem was now walking back out into the roadway, the blue orb eye focused on him. Lumbering slowly in his direction. The hands lifted, curling up into a fist as it began a slow steady charge forward at him.

"UNREGISTERED SLAVE, REMAIN STILL FOR ELIMINATION."

He turned to the dead section of the city where Illy and Selena were supposed to be. There was no movement there. He called out their names, yelling at them to get here.

The golem continued it's steady gait at Wade. The hands uncurled, once more flattened out palms in front of it, as if it decided it wasn't going to punch him to death but try to slap him again.

Still no motion on the other end of the city. Where were they? Had they left or… had they been killed?

He felt a cold pit inside. The golem had spotted them prior, and it had stopped rampaging in the dead section of the gloom and city a while back. For a reason.

Either the pair had found a way out, or they'd been caught.

The phone buzzed.

omg why are you just standing there? (╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻

Wade paused right at the entrance, knelt down enough he could see the bottom of the sewer. Then he looked back up around the street here. Dozens of tools, scattered among the skeletal remains. Tools that he'd seen puncture the armor, even if they ended up doing next to no damage.

Seriously. It's lvl 122. Fun as it'd be to watch, you gonna get one-shot.

The golem's thundering steps grew closer, each impact sending tremors through the ground. The eye was locked onto him. Wade examined the dents in its surface where his earlier attacks had landed. Tiny scratches, barely visible, but they were there. The hands were dented in. Small punctures where he'd thrown picks at it's side armor. Each step it took groaned a bit from lack of maintenance. The construct's armor wasn't impenetrable but that didn't make any different in real life. It couldn't be killed when there was no game system.

But now?

He glanced at the manhole tunnel again. Smart money said to run, to live to fight another day. Except Wade didn't feel like running. He was tired of running from everything, just being a rat in a maze trying to survive someone else's game. Wade felt like taking revenge. He had the strategy, he had the power, all he needed was the goddamn spite to get it done.

His phone buzzed again.

Michael. Don't 1v1 the giant murderbot, you'd lose

Wade gave the screen one last look, stood up, sniffed, then spat to his right side, before locking eyes with the golem's own. "Naw. I'd win."

He went straight into action. First, he picked up all the pickaxes he could find, grabbing them and stuffing the whole lot under his arm. With his speed, it didn't take long. All put together, he dropped them in a pile in the center of the street, opposite to the silver chest. Once the golem had lumbered close enough to him, he left the rest of the picks here and yanked a broken one, the handle missing. In his other hand, he drew out one of Illy's daggers, before waving the pickaxe up at the golem.

"Oi! See this? I'm going to hurt you with it."

He knew the golem could understand, even he felt his mouth sound out he ancient Nathir language.

It made no change in plans, still walking up to Wade, hands up and ready to squash down. That's fine, his plan relied on it. The golem could detect threats, so all he had to do was prove this pile of pickaxes was indeed a threat. And then it'd be game over.

Because the golem couldn't be in multiple places at once.

He rushed forward, flinging his dagger at the giant, then leaping up to chuck the pickaxe with a savage throw. The broken pickaxe end was way lighter to him than the chest had been, letting his throw zoom forward far faster. This time the golem shifted it's center weight so that the rock slabs holstered on its sides took the dagger hit.

A smart move to conserve its actual armor and expose an unneeded and non-functional asset. Unfortunately, the golem couldn't possibly understand just how bad of a move that was. How could it? It didn't know it had a health bar now.

Tactics wise, those rock slabs really were just padded expendable armor. But from the System's point of view, it was still part of the golem.

The dagger hit hard, its debuff lighting up rings around the golem.

And then Wade launched the pickaxe forward, and it crushed through another chunk of stone slab. The skyviper debuff applied instantly. This time the hit did closer to the lootbox's damage.

Another few percent down.

The plan was simple. If the golem guarded the chest, he'd throw picks at it. If it went to guard the picks, he'd go after the chest and throw that at it. So long as he kept the chest and the picks in seperate locations, he'd always have the means to deal damage. It should have taken that chest and put it with all the other pickaxes here instead. But it'd been too dumb to think that far ahead.

Checkmate.

And if it all went to shit somehow, Wade would rush back to hide in the city and grab tools from the slave housing units. They were full of junk he could throw. Maybe he'd rip a doorway off the hinges. Would get messy at that point given the little maze that section was.

It decided the current pickaxes here were the target to go after. Wade grabbed a few off the ground for possible use as distractions, and then sprinted for the housing district, aiming to get the chest back.

The golem reacted, changing its mind about the pickaxes, playing goalie for the chest instead. Matching his movements into the city while walking backwards. Like a giant crab he had to overpass.

Wade darted between the alleyways. Each time he feinted left to get to the chest, those massive hands would shift to block his path. It was digging itself deep into the district now.

He nailed it a few more times with his looted pickaxes, hoping it would distract the thing long enough for Wade to sprint by, but besides taking down a few more ticks of percentage, the golem had mostly ignored the attacks, single minded focus on stopping Wade from being reunited with his lootbox.

If he couldn't run past, then Wade swapped tactics and tried to break line of sight, but the golem seemed extra vigilant. Fortunately, the few times it was in range to attack, Wade managed to dodge away just in time, his leaps and jumps far better than any normal human could have. He wasn't stupid enough to get that close to the golem again, he could learn from his prior mistakes. All he needed to do was get past it.

"UNREGISTERED SLAVE, REMAIN STILL FOR ELIMINATION."

The automated voice boomed across the street as Wade ducked through a collapsed doorway. He weaved through the building's interior, emerging on the other side only to find the golem had predicted his path, those palms already raised up.

He immediately backed away, turning on a dime and was out of range before the golem could start smashing downwards. It watched him go, hand still raised in the air.

If it could feel pissed, Wade had a feeling it absolutely was.

Wade gave it one last parting gift for this run-in: His final distraction pickaxe, to which it once more shifted its hip to catch on it's stone slab. Once more acid mist started floating out of it for another ten seconds as its health ticked down by slivers.

Level 122 Nathir Security Golem - 57%

Slow steady progress on Wade's part till now. But at least the golem didn't have to deal with the human throwing things at it anymore, not unless Wade got a few seconds to loot a house as he ran around.

There was something Wade noticed on its changed behavior - the construct was treating this like a game of keep-away. It wasn't pursuing him into the buildings anymore, focused solely on protecting the chest and cutting his path to it. And anticipating where he'd run. Which could be abused.

He came up with a plan, running into a building only to double back and race out the same side he'd gone in. The golem's hand were hovering right where he should have come out, rotating just a little too slow to adjust to his juke.

He rounded the corner at full sprint and saw it - the silver chest. Sitting right in the center of the street. This alleyway had a direct line right to it. Wade couldn't have asked for a more perfect runway. He crouched down and rocketed forward, going as fast as he could, using every bit of his blackrot empowered strength.

He heard sounds as the golem clearly smashed the building right behind him, legs thumping as it repositioned.

He was a stone's throw from running out into the street, just seconds away from grabbing the chest and making out like a bandit. Too easy. It was too easy!

Wait.

It was too easy. The golem should have scrambled through some of the buildings like a giant crab and blocked his path. Instead, he'd heard the thuds of it moving, but away from him. Repositioning.

His mind raced faster than his legs, pieces clicking together with horrible clarity. The chest placement, the alley layout, the golem's movements - all of it screamed trap.

It could have placed the chest anywhere unreachable: On its back. On top of a tall unit. Hell it could have chucked it down the manhole or down the street. Instead, it had practically gift-wrapped this opportunity, putting it directly in front of a straightway alleyway. A perfect corridor.

The thundering steps behind him took on new meaning. The golem wasn't chasing or playing keep-away - it was herding him. Maneuvered a faster opponent exactly where it wanted. Into what was essentially a shooting gallery, his trajectory completely locked in.

His blood ran cold.

… What if the slabs of stones hadn't been the only ranged weapons it had? What if it had a reserve that was just required more precision? Something it could miss with, and needed to make absolute sure it wouldn't.

The phone in his pocket buzzed frantically, but Wade didn't need to check it. He turned his head around to look backwards, and saw the golem. It had indeed repositionned to be directly behind him. And it had curled it's floating fist into a punch. Aiming.

He watched in mute horror as it tracked his position, and then fired forward like a cannon ball, directly at him.