Terminator
Upon hearing Arsena's words, Aiden was not only surprised but also puzzled, "What?"
"This exceeds my capabilities." Arsena said as she distanced herself slightly from Aiden.
Meanwhile, the pool of mercury began to surge and swiftly transformed into a humanoid figure.
"Sure enough... There are theoretically only two ways to animate mercury like this. One involves the most delicate alchemy to create a golem that can be driven by it, while the other is to directly imbue metal with life." Arsena explained succinctly, "In the former case, my necromancy is ineffective against an object devoid of life and soul. As for the latter... it surpasses the limits of dark magic entirely. Beings of such high order cannot be killed by necromancy alone. Best of luck to you."
"Shouldn't you at least try first?" Aiden glanced at her, "And why are you moving further away from me?"
"It seems to have targeted you. As long as I distance myself from you, I am safe," Arsena analyzed rationally, "Standing too close makes us vulnerable to simultaneous attacks."
Aiden realized that bringing this necromancer along might have been a misstep.
The mercury finally coalesced into the form of a woman, her long hair floating as if defying gravity like seaweed in water.
Just as Arsena had predicted, it immediately locked onto Aiden, assuming a tense attack stance and emitting a metallic growl.It was a golem sent by Vera - Aiden discerned the true identity of this thing.
The witch unexpectedly revealed a new trump card, a metallic slime - no, it's much more advanced than that, this thing was essentially a liquid metal robot.
Seeing the mercury transform, Aiden was somewhat dumbfounded, jumping from a rune-powered crude puppet to something akin to the T-1000 from "Terminator." Wasn't this technology way beyond the norm?
It seemed to have infiltrated through the sewer system. This entity could likely navigate through sewer pipes after transforming and breach walls by exploiting gaps in the structure. When the target approached, the golem smashed through the wall on its own.
After a brief consideration, Aiden decided to try to take it down. Escaping might not be an option, and as the warden here, he couldn't allow such a dangerous creature to roam freely in his prison.
He decisively drew his gun and fired. His gun was loaded with demon-devouring bullets, crafted from magic stones which is more precious than most gems. Upon hitting the target, these bullets could seal the target's magic, earning them the moniker "Mage Slayer." They were the Inquisition's tool against spellcasters and magical entity, albeit costly to produce.
However, as he raised his gun, the mercury golem in the cell also reacted swiftly, morphing its right hand into a shield that deflected the bullet.
Aiden paused. Liquid mercury couldn't repel bullets with hardness alone; this golem likely wasn't purely mercury-made but infused with some special material allowing rapid hardening.
The next moment, the golem growled lowly and lunged straight at Aiden.
Aiden dodged instinctively. He had to evade; the density of mercury was over thirteen times that of the human body, nearly twice that of iron. This golem, with a physique resembling that of a slender adult woman, likely weighing over half a ton, charged with the force of a raging bull. Moreover, considering the golem's ability to potentially infiltrate the body forcibly through the mouth or nose, evading was imperative to avoid being torn apart.
After a brief hesitation, Arsena, who had already distanced herself, pointed her staff at the golem and unleashed the advanced necromantic spell "Ethereal Ghostfire."
Green flames immediately enveloped the reshaped golem, but it had no effect on the golem, which didn't even spare a glance back at her.
"Well, as expected." With an expression of anticipation, Arsena nodded lightly.
"Ethereal Ghostfire" was a spell that burned souls, with flames not particularly high in temperature. Heating such a large volume of mercury to its boiling point instantly was unrealistic.
"Don't heat it up. Do you want me to get mercury poisoning?" Aiden interjected, "If it's not useful, retreat to the other side of the gate."
The golem's attack had completely separated him from Arsena, but this didn't bother him. He couldn't rely on the necromancer anyway. Dealing with the golem ultimately fell on his shoulders.
Aiden remained relatively composed. After all, the golem was just a creation of dark magic. Its confinement to the general prison area upon infiltrating indicated it was still bound by the seal's restrictions. Therefore, the "Word of Order" should still affect it.
With this in mind, he quickly retreated.
The mercury golem followed suit, moving in a humanoid form but seemingly not walking on its feet like a human; instead, it wriggled on the ground, connected to a large mass of mercury at its ankles.
Aiden then turned and ran towards the depths of the corridor, prompting the golem to adapt its movement pattern, bouncing in pursuit.
The end of the corridor soon appeared, with the prisoners in the cell already evacuated. Once he was sure he had enough distance from the entrance, Aiden began his physical transformation, turning back to face the oncoming golem and chanting the divine incantation.
His execution of these actions was seamless. Having spent days in the prison, he had been studying and practicing this particular incantation, his ace in the hole. It was unexpected that he could apply it so soon in a real combat situation.
The divine incantation took effect swiftly, causing the golem, which was about to pounce on its cornered prey, to abruptly halt its movements and collapse into an oval shape, churning abnormally.
Finally, with an eerie roar, the golem deflated like a leaking balloon, slowly dissolving, resembling melting butter. Aiden's incantation dispersed the dark magic's effects on this mass of mercury.
It was done... and because it ended so easily, Aiden momentarily felt a sense of disappointment.
However, he quickly reflected - the ability to resolve things simply was a good thing. This wasn't a game; he couldn't handle the life-and-death pressures of back-and-forth fighting.
Thinking about Vera's capabilities, crafting even a "Terminator," Aiden wondered if given time, she could create a magical Gundam as well.
Lost in his thoughts, he walked cautiously, preparing to bypass the mercury pool and call for cleanup.
But as he took his first step, the mercury, which had been slowly dispersing, unexpectedly began to regather, startling Aiden - this thing was still "alive"!