Chapter 4: Backpedaling Dodges Every Boss Pattern
The iron door wasn't locked.
It swung wide open inward the moment I slammed into it.
"Huh?"
I didn't even have time to finish that word before tumbling over the threshold and into the room.
The floor was hard.
Unlike the damp stone passage, this floor was vast and smoothly packed.
It was much brighter here.
Red magic stones embedded in the ceiling here and there cast a hazy glow over the entire cavern.
And it was way too big.
Before I could even stand, the shadow lizard shoved its body through the door crack from behind.
At the same time, a heavy thud echoed from somewhere deeper inside.
Thud.
Thud.
Each footstep made the chamber floor vibrate.
Cold sweat dripped down my back as I lifted my head.
It was stone.
A massive hunk of rock stood in human shape.
About three meters tall, with a single red magic stone embedded in its forehead.
Stone Golem.
Obviously the boss.
Shattered shells and mana stone dust littered the ground at its feet.
Everything that made it this far had ended up under that stone fist.
The cavern walls were pocked with overlapping dents from blunt impacts.
"Ah..."
I was really screwed.
Shadow lizard behind me.
Boss in front.
I stupidly groped the wall beside the iron door.
My fingers brushed metal.
A rusted lever.
A cracked panel beside it flickered red light through the fissures.
But I had no time to inspect it.
The shadow lizard lunged first.
I screamed and staggered back.
My heel nearly caught on the threshold.
My heart dropped.
The lizard's breath felt hot on my back, and ahead, the stone fist slowly rose.
The golem lifted its fist at the same moment.
Boom!
The golem's fist smashed the floor right in front of the door.
As the lizard twisted away, I backpedaled deeper into the room like I'd been flung.
Stone dust slid under my feet.
Dust coated my mouth with every panicked breath.
Blood trickled onto my tongue—my jaw wound must've reopened.
Even then, I couldn't move forward.
The golem's face loomed too close.
Turning my back felt like inviting a shattered skull, so half-sobbing, I kept retreating backward.
I didn't have time for chills.
One misstep, and my head was pulp.
The room felt suffocating despite its size.
More escape routes? No—every direction fed straight into the golem's gaze.
Or not.
I wasn't thinking at all.
Just backward.
A little farther.
That was it.
The golem turned its head to look down at me.
The shadow lizard growled from the doorway.
Sandwiched between them, my mind went blank.
I couldn't fight.
Had to run.
But the exit was somewhere between those two.
The golem moved first.
Its massive arm whipped sideways.
I recoiled on instinct.
Turning to sprint would've exposed my back.
No room to roll aside with the threshold right there.
So eyes locked on it, I shuffled back step by step—and its arm bizarrely swept only the straight line where I'd just stood.
Backpedaling.
Whoosh.
The gray stone arm grazed right past my nose.
Right past.
Wind pressure plastered my hair to my forehead.
"Eek!"
My legs buckled; I nearly collapsed.
Distance calc my ass.
I just couldn't run forward and face that thing head-on.
The golem raised its arm again.
This time from above down.
Sobbing, I threw both arms up to shield my head.
"Guh...!"
Not even a proper scream escaped.
I curled up and collapsed backward.
Crash!
Its fist pulverized the air at chest height where I'd been a second ago.
Stone shards flew.
One grazed my cheek.
It stung.
Meant I was alive.
Sitting on the floor, I dazedly stared up at its fist.
Stone dust rained onto my face.
No time to close my eyes.
Missed again.
Tears streaking my face, I braced my palms on the floor and scooted back.
The golem was slow.
But one hit, and it was over.
The shadow lizard circled the door, waiting for an opening but not daring to enter fully.
The boss scared it more, apparently.
That somehow terrified me even more.
Both gunning for me, but just eyeing each other in turns.
The golem rumbled low.
Its red magic stone flashed.
Something big was coming—I could feel it.
I recoiled in panic, backing up again.
My back hit a cold wall.
No more room.
This was it.
But plastered against the wall, its arm didn't reach.
Caught on some structure.
In that split second, I slipped sideways.
No calcs.
My spine was flush against the wall, fingertips raw from clawing stone cracks.
Just a cornered rat clinging for dear life.
The golem lumbered as it yanked its fist free.
Now or never.
One more delay, and that fist would crush down again.
I slid along the wall sideways.
Exposing my back felt like death, so I kept facing it, backpedaling the whole way.
The golem's shoulder snagged on the doorframe, its huge arm lagging a beat as it bent through the narrow entrance.
That ridiculous snag made the attack miss again.
Its fist slammed the floor beside me, not in front.
I nearly burst into teary laughter.
"I dunno why it keeps missing either..."
Then the golem froze.
So did I.
The air in the room thickened.
For a split second, it choked me.
My skin prickled.
Felt like a crowd pressing in from behind, all staring at once.
I hunched my shoulders.
The golem's red magic stone quivered faintly.
It stepped back half a pace.
"Huh?"
This time I actually voiced it.
The golem stared straight up at me.
Before, it eyed me like prey to smash.
Not anymore.
Now it watched warily, on guard.
So clear it made me flinch.
"Why's it doing that..."
I'm the scared one.
I'd done nothing.
Yet it retreated.
That terrified me more.
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Pressure? I just prayed my arms stayed attached.
For that instant, the whole room's air solidified around me.
Even my exhale sounded too loud.
I'd shatter before that rock pile.
My legs went weak again.
Fingers trembled.
But the golem didn't charge straight anymore.
I seized the gap.
Toward the door.
Toward the lever.
I wanted to creep slowly, unseen—but that wasn't me.
I backpedaled, slipped, caught myself, staggered toward the door.
The golem couldn't follow easily.
I was almost there.
The shadow lizard howled from outside again.
The golem's gaze flickered.
I grabbed the lever in that split second.
"Please..."
Yanked with everything I had.
Grind-grind-grate.
The iron door shifted.
Red light burst from the cracked panel.
Fizzle.
Mana lines in the wall snapped.
The door jammed halfway.
Barely enough gap for one person to squeeze through.
I hurled myself at it.
My shoulder scraped the edge.
Cold pain raced down my spine.
But no stopping.
Get stuck, and it'd either fold me in half or shove me back inside.
Footsteps thundered behind—the golem moving.
My spine froze.
I shoved my torso out, crammed my shoulder, pushed off with my knees.
Just as my jaw cleared, a massive stone fist battered the door behind me.
Boom!
The door slammed shut.
I sprawled into the outer corridor.
The golem roared from inside; the shadow lizard from outside.
Flat on the floor between them, I gasped for air.
I survived.
For now.
I pressed my forehead to the floor and muttered.
The golem's fist impacts still echoed in my ears.
The wind from moments ago still ghosted my face.
"I dunno either..."