Before I could do anything about the ping, the ground began to rumble. Thick columns of stone, glass, and steel shot up out of the ground as though the System were rebuilding the skyscrapers of the previous city. Several hundred six-story tall buildings appeared. Cracks erupted across the buildings as they split apart, forming huge crushing fists attached to crumbling limbs that somehow held the material in place. From the ground up to around their middle, the building golem creatures formed four legs that bent at odd angles to allow a skittering, if slow, movement that reminded me of my turret, which I knew wouldn’t be of much help against these enormous beasties.

  Despite their size and undoubted strength, my Senses of the Deeps did not ping them as higher level than me.

  Skystriders. Level 50. These behemoths can appear when ambient life affinity is forcibly increased and combined with earth or steel affinity. Highest Stat: Strength. Highest Affinity: Life. Blessing: None.

  I quickly pulled up the chat system and sent Cari a message.

  Dan: Hey, I think we need your skills out here.

  Cari: We’re on the west wall. You got the Skystriders too, I’m guessing.

  Dan: Sure do! You get anything from your Structural Awareness skill?

  Cari: Sure did! Four weak points. One at the base where the legs split off, one at the right elbow, one left of the neck right below the shoulder, and one within its back left foot.

  Dan: That’s incredible, thank you! Let Selka know so she can spread the info.

  Cari: I’m on it!

  WAVE 15 BEGIN!

  Dan: Selka, Cari’s going to be messaging you with vital info. Get her on the western array as soon as it’s running.

  I ignored her reply and stepped on the array. The skystriders’ steps shook the ground as they charged the tower. The empowered Feast Burst blasted out a short time later, slamming into the tower shield that spawned upon the left arm. The entire arm began dissolving as the consuming energy spread across the shield. Stone and steel began to surge up the leg into the body and to the arm, pushing back and fighting against the consumption.

  Pushing more and more from my pathways, I slowly gained ground until I felt my hunger hit the first weak spot. The shoulder of the golem exploded, disrupting Feast Burst and causing the secondary beams to arc off in random directions, leaving deep craters in the ground. The golem silently raised its still intact right arm and its fist swelled to 10 meters across before rushing at the wall.

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  It was not the only one rapidly approaching our wall. The burstfire of our inferior turrets did nothing as the fists flew.

  I desperately spread my arms out wide and fired off four beams at once. They each burst as they consumed a fist, but I was only able to stop around twenty before the wall trembled as several sections crumbled under the heavy blows. Flashes of light erupted from the bubble shield, but it thankfully held strong.

  “Fuck!” I yelled through the rumbling noise. I called up another Feast Burst and fired it, this time focusing on controlling the burst. Right before it struck I manually triggered the burst, splitting it into four and aiming for the weakpoints, arcing them around the attempt to shield. This time, the golem shuddered and broke apart, consumed within my attack. The secondary beams arced out, dealing minor damage to the surrounding golems.

  This was going to take a while.

  Sending a quick chat telling those on my array to retreat, I leapt out into the fray, feeling the connection to the others severed. A fist swung down in my direction and I activated Hunger Strike, sending out an arc of consumption that split the fist in two. This didn’t stop the blow from landing around me, but it did lessen the damage as I was flung back into the windows on the front end of a skystrider.

  Familiar empty rooms flew by as I bounced once and crashed against the window at its rear, creating a spider web of cracks that slowly began to repair. I thought I could take a breather, but the very walls crumbled around me and formed grasping hands that reached from all directions. In a blur of motion, the mouths on my four hands opened wide and set to work, consuming each incoming hand before it could get to me. I felt my pathways refilling as I continuously consumed, but it wasn’t enough, and one of the hands finally grasped my left leg and threw me out of the cracked window.

  As I pivoted to land on my feet, I quickly pulled up the chat system.

  Dan: Got some new intel. And it sucks. Seems the System has figured out a way to slow down our progress. The Adamantium wall is not going to hold.

  Selka: We know! The southern array was already nearly destroyed.

  Dan: I can take these brutes down, but I’m gonna need some help to distract them. You have to hit all four weak points at once to take them down quickly. Pull the weaker troops behind the bubble shield and send my team over this way!

  Cari: Way ahead of you!

  A thick vine erupted from the head of the skystrider as a stone-skinned Cari flew by, reaching out to be gripped by the vine and swung into the golem. Cari smashed into the side of the building like a wrecking ball, causing so much destruction that the top half fell to the ground.

  Gregory was close behind her, a swing of his axe creating a large spectral head to cut off the left arm of the falling golem, striking true at the weak point. He landed next to me, giving me a fist bump before rushing the legs to try and cut them down.

  A crystalline shard flew past Gregory as Stan launched his newest skill. The crystal shard pierced deeply into the base where the legs split and exploded, sending smaller shards to cut through the weak point. The legs crumbled to the ground as another skystrider next to the broken one turned and slammed its fist into the right arm and flailing left foot, finally ending the golem.

  Ernest struck a pose as he floated through the air, carried by Jenny, who had gigantic paper wings flapping behind her, seemingly sprung out from the tome strapped behind her back. Small paper birds flew around her and as she set Ernest down, she pointed at the next skystrider and the birds blurred as they shot toward the four weak points. Ernest waved his summoned wand and the golem lowered its arms, allowing the paper birds to strike true and pierce into the points. The golem collapsed in chunks as it perished.

  Through the cloud of dust charged a minotaur wearing heavy plate armor depicting scenes of explicit acts, swinging his flail with his right hand and holding a little black book with the other.