The Garrison Ruins were a sprawling landscape of broken concrete and rusting rebar, pulsating with heavy, residual protection magic.
Mateo led the infiltration, his Sonic Burst power allowing him to move unseen through the perimeter. Bjorn Haugen, a tower of muscle and silent determination, moved like a shadow behind him.
They entered the supply tunnels. The air was thick with the scent of pulverized rock and ancient, dormant kinetic fields.
"Hold," Zola whispered, her hand flat against the rock wall. "Two targets ahead. Geomancy Golems. Low-rank, but their stone armor is thick. Mateo, distract. Kenji, Elara, look for the stress points."
Two Geomancy Golems, shambling mounds of crystallized rubble, emerged from the dust.
Mateo zipped around them, his blur creating sonic decoys. The Golems' slow movements made them easy targets, but their exterior defense was nearly impervious. Elara tried a precision ice shard, which shattered harmlessly against the rock skin.
"Too much kinetic absorption!" Elara hissed. "It's like hitting wet clay!"
Kenji observed the Golems' movement. He didn't see rock; he saw structure. He noticed that every time the Golem moved its arm, a faint, almost invisible seam of pressure shifted near its shoulder joint.
"Zola, where is the most common point of failure for Geomancy constructs?" Kenji asked quickly.
"The stabilization field connecting the core to the limbs. The neck and shoulders," Zola replied, surprised by the quick question.
"Got it."
Kenji targeted the exact seam on the Golem's shoulder and unleashed the [Sonic Disruptor].
Vvvrrrrrummm.
The Golem didn't explode. Instead, a hairline fracture instantly spread from the point of impact, and its entire arm slowly disintegrated into harmless dust. The Golem stumbled, unbalanced, and Zola finished it with a precise spike of earth magic through its core.
The second Golem met the same fate.
Golem Destruction Log: Residual Epic Defense Scrap detected. Minor gain: +20 units.
"The Disruptor works," Elara conceded, looking at the dusting of powerful scrap left behind. "But we need to conserve energy. That was slow."
As they moved deeper, the floor beneath them began to shift. The Golems had set a trap. A section of the tunnel collapsed, separating the team. Bjorn, Zola, and Priya were cut off in the back tunnel. Kenji, Elara, and Mateo were ahead.