Mountain of the Immortals

"I've seen a lot of dungeons," Ares said. "Some of them were fucked up, especially those in the Egyptian pantheon. But I've never encountered one that claims to be endless."

"And what's with that last line of the notification?" Aphrodite added. "I've never seen a dungeon notification like that."

"I think I know what this is," Artemis pitched in. "I've only heard of it though, so I'm not a hundred percent sure."

"Well, it's more than what we know, so just tell us already," Aphrodite said.

"It's not that the actual dungeon is endless, but rather the opponents. Monsters will start attacking us in waves, becoming stronger each time."

"That’s just wonderful," Hephaestus said.

"I don't know," I said. "I'd like to see how much XP we can get in a matter of an hour first."

"No, I meant that," Hephaestus said, and pointed across the river of magma.

The wall was equally well illuminated on that side, but upon closer inspection, I saw that the light changed colors as the river moved. Some kind of purplish ore in the rocks was manipulating light in a way that was indeed beautiful to the eye.

"Is that—" I started.

"Orichalcum," he said, eyes shining with fascination. "The mother of ores."

He moved forward and immediately after he had taken one step a timer appeared in the corner of my vision.

* * *

10 seconds until first wave starts.

* * *

"Are you guys seeing this as well?" Ares asked.

"I am," I replied, looking at Aphrodite who started casting all of her buffs immediately, starting with Hephaestus who was now running toward the lava river.

"I'd better start mining the orichalcum then!" he said.

The river was too wide for him to jump across, but every so often, it carried glowing stones floating on its surface. Hephaestus briefly hopped on one of them as a stepping-stone to reach to the other side. A small puff of smoke rose from where his boot touched it, but he was able to cross without any further issues.

* * *

4 seconds until first wave starts.

* * *

"Should we all cross to the other side?" Ares asked, as Hephaestus struck his magical pickaxe on the side of the cavern for the first time.

"There's no reason for the goddesses to cross over since they can attack from a distance anyway," I said, right as the time ended. "Let's see if you and I need to."

Right on time, one of the boulders that was floating in the river rose to reveal itself as a golem made of stone and magma, glowing softly and dripping lava.

* * *

Name: Mount Olympus Magma Golem

Type: Magic Creature - Golem

Level: 54

Disposition: Passive

HP: 1,622/1,622

Physical Attack: 1,168

Magic Attack: 364

Speed: 140

Attack Range: Melee

XP: 3,604

Description: Golems are usually created by powerful spellcasters and gifted with just enough thinking and logical capabilities to be able to better serve their masters. The magma inside the heart of Mount Olympus has been drenched in the mana of the place of power for long enough that golems have come into being naturally, and live their lives inside it.

* * *

The first golem fell pretty easily as Artemis unloaded a few arrows into it, one of them charged with one of her class-specific skills, and Ares attacked it in rapid succession as well. The XP it gave us was not much but if the golems kept coming, it might amount to something we could work with.

Before the first golem was even fully submerged in the lava again, another two started rising out of it. I attacked the one closest to me, starting with a stunning attack. I wasn’t sure if the golems could even be stunned and was surprised to see it stop in its tracks. What was quite comical about it was the fact that even though it was stunned and unable to move, the river continued flowing and so the golem moved with it, slowly away from me. I continued striking it as Aphrodite's buffs blessed my body.

Ares was fighting his golem with the aid of Artemis, who was evidently already buffed. But this time, two more golems came out of the river before he was able to kill off his. Glancing at the bubbling surface of the magma, I noticed that three more were now emerging on my end as well, right as the dead body of the one I was fighting became submerged.

"They're coming faster than we can take them down," I said.

I instantly started attacking the middle of the three on my side while Ares and Artemis each took on one of the others. As soon as the cooldown timer of my stunning skill ran out, I used it on the left golem, which stopped in its tracks, and I continued attacking the middle one.

It tried striking back at me, sending an attack at my chest, and even though its attack did not hit where it intended, the graze on my shoulder and the lava dripping onto my skin were more than enough to cause me harm. Thankfully, my next strike brought it down and I was able to focus on the other one, which was now getting dangerously close to Hephaestus’ side of the cavern.

I moved as close to the edge of my side as possible, making sure the ground below me was steady enough to hold me, and stretched my arm out to pierce the golem's back with my lance. The monster gave out a scream of pain that sounded more like rocks falling into a thick liquid.

It didn’t turn to face me, but attempted to continue its path toward Hephaestus. For whatever reason, what he was doing was irritating it more than my attack. But not more than Artemis's charged arrow that now struck the back of its head, splashing magma all around it.

The monster turned abruptly, swinging a bulky arm with great force to try and backslap me. I was easily able to avoid its strike by ducking and thrust my spear into its forearm. This time it didn’t shout in pain, but its glow dimmed slightly as its arm fell limp.

This monster's death was slightly less dramatic. Instead of falling back and causing a splash of fiery magma, it just melted into the river, disappearing the same way it had appeared, in a perfect fiery loop of a short life and a swift death.

I ran my eyes along the river to make sure no more golems were emerging form it and turned to my left to face the golem I’d stunned. Only this last golem was neither stunned nor to my left anymore. The stun effect had already ended and it was now emerging completely from the river, heading for Hephaestus who was doing his best to free a chunk of orichalcum ore from the cavern's walls.

"Be careful!" Aphrodite shouted, and I felt the reassuring warm light of her healing spell wash over me.

From what I could see, there was no way to cross the river other than what Hephaestus had tried a few moments ago. But there were no inactive golems flowing through the river anymore, save for the one that was now sinking.

I took a few steps back to get some running distance and waited a couple of seconds for the dead golem to submerge itself a little more. Then I ran forward, leaped off the edge of the non-burning ground, landed on the almost fully submerged golem's head with my right foot, and catapulted myself forward to the other side.

The head was swallowed by the lava with an audible gulp and a couple of bubbles appeared right at the spot where I’d landed. But I was now able to protect Hephaestus. I rushed at the golem as two arrows flew over my shoulder and struck it in the middle of its bulky body.

The golem was hyper-focused on Hephaestus, who was in turn hyper-focused on mining out the orichalcum. He wasn’t able to remove the ore, but neither was the golem able to reach him before I struck it dead. When it died, the rocks and magma melted completely and slowly flowed back to the river, as if the ground was sloped.

"You didn't seem to worry at all," I said, looking at Hephaestus who was still striking at the wall.

"I knew you'd protect me," he said between hits.

"The golems are flowing back into the river," I said to our companions on the other side. "The place is probably angled in such a way that they rejoin the magma and are reborn."

"It's not angles," Hephaestus said, this time in the guild chat so he didn't have to shout. "It's magnetic forces. The metals in the magma are being pulled back to it once the life force of the golems has been destroyed."

Before anyone was able to respond to that, we received another notification.

* * *

The first wave has been successfully cleared.

This is a new record set by Zeus.

30 seconds until second wave starts.

* * *

"Alright, I think it's best if I stay on this side," I said, and everyone nodded in agreement. "Use all your stunning skills to stop them from moving and then switch to the one next to them."

"Protecting Hephaestus is our number one priority," Aphrodite added. "Let's make sure he doesn't have to stop at all to help us fight."

* * *

18 seconds until second wave starts.

* * *