Raphael was riding his horse with Alice in front, holding her in case she falls.
Alice: So, you're gonna destroy his fortress?
Raphael: im thinking about it, the Fortress fell something like 10,000 years ago and it's been nothing but a Bandit Den for those 10,000 years. Leaving it standing is troublesome. Plus, you were traumatized at that place, so there are no plus sides for not destroying the place. While the Kid is gone, the place is uninhabited, so there is nobody stopping me from destroying it.
Alice didn't respond, just nodded at his words and looked off into the surrounding wilderness as the Horse carried them back to Krok-Magar.
Cashew was walking away from his old cabin and towards the Monster Plains he spent so much time at.
Reaching the plains full of Carnivorous Trees, Cashew looked around with Nostalgia on his face. He saw the Giant Sone Golem that guards the place, the Carnivorous Trees impaling Rabbits on their branches as snacks for later, and finally, Cashew saw a Crystalized Mont in the distance.
Cashew: Okay! Let's spend some time rebuilding my Crystal Collection!
27 Days. Cashew spent the next 27 Days harassing Crystalized Monts and having his Wood Golems stedl their Crystals. No sleep, no rest. Nothing. Hunting and Harassing the wildlife for 27 days.
Cashew: I was gone too long. Let's head back to my fortress.
...
3 Days after Raphael went to the fortress to bring Alice back home, a group of Armored people approached the Fortress. 4 people, more specifically.
A burly man with a Red Beard and heavy armor on, he was wielding a thick round shield and wielding a two handed battle axe with 1 hand.
A second burly man with a clean shaven face and sharp Jawline. He was wearing heavy armor wielding a thick Tower Shield and a large Mace that was as long as he is tall, also the type of weapon you'd use with two hands, but he is wielding 1 handed.
A young attractive woman with long black hair in a thick braid over her shoulder, she was wearing what looked like a black bikini top, and tight booty shorts with boots that go up to her mid thigh, she had a Cloak on that would cover her entire body when her arms are at her side. She had a big pointy witch hat as well, all of her clothes were Black. She had a big staff on her back with what looked like an Orb on the end.
The fourth and final member was another woman wearing light leather armor and chainmail underneath it. She had chin length blonde hair and a bored expression on her face. She had a short sword on her hip, a small bow in her hand and a really big crossbow on her back. The crossbow had thick wires, a handcrank, and it was the same height as the other woman.
The Magic Woman has a bored expression on her face with a hint of annoyance.
Magic Woman: Are we seriously being paid to raid an Ancient Fortress? What are we even gonna fight here? cobwebs?
Battleaxe Wielding Man: It's easy money. Why should we exclusively accept the challenging stuff?
Large Mace Wielding Man: Yeah, it's a nice change of pace to do something easy. Especially for 10 Silver coins per person.
Magic Woman: 40 Silver coins to essentially be a maid? Who even gave us this job?
Archer Woman: The City Lord. He's the one who listed the job.
Magic Woman: Ew... An Old Man...
Battleaxe Wielding Man: Old? What do you mean, "Old"? Except for you, he's the same age as everyone in this party!
Magic Woman: Yeah, and every morning I need to check your pulse to make sure you didn't die in your sleep... Old People...
The Magic Woman lifted her hand to rub her forehead, her cloak opening up a little and showing off her hourglass figure, the Mace Wielding Man Chuckled at her comment.
Mace Wielding Man: Your Father was right about you being... Strange. You know what he's doing later today? I wanna buy him a drink after this job is done.
Battleaxe Wielding Man: Oh, a drink sounds nice. I'll join you.
Mace Wielding Man: I'll only pay for his drink, you're on your own.
He said while looking at the Battleaxe Wielding Man.
Magic Woman: Ugh! Why did nobody my age wanna take me out? Now I'm stuck with these decrepit old people...
Archer Woman: How old are you, anyways?
Magic Woman: 22. I was hoping to join a party of men my age and be swept off my feet by a handsome blonde Knight, maybe form a polyamorous with all the hot knights who fight over me!...
The Magic woman was cupping her hands together next to her head, clearly enjoying the daydreaming. The Mace Wielding Man shook his head with a chuckle before putting his bucket helmet on, the Battleaxe Wielding Man rubbed his forehead, finding the Young Woman's daydreaming strange.
Archer Woman: Tell me, why do we have a hopeless Romantic girl who's 20 years younger than us in our party again?
Mace Wielding Man: It's kinda my fault, I owe her father a favor, he was sick of her constant daydreaming, she would only try and join parties with young attractive men and most of those parties didn't want a mage or were formed by lifelong friends. She wouldn't join any parties and she wasn't helping out at all, so he asked us to drag her along. Help her on her first job and maybe break the Delusions.
Archer Woman: So that's why we are doing an easy job?
Battleaxe Wielding Man: We would have took this job even if she wasn't here, her being here is actually helpful, trying to split 40 Silver coins among 3 people would be annoying.
The 3 of them got ready to approach the fortress while the Magic Woman stayed behind in her delusions, not noticing that they are starting.
The two men walked in the front with their shields raised while the Archer Woman had her small bow in hand and an arrow drawn.
Archer Woman: Psst! Don't those piles of rock look conspicuous to you?
She asked the two men, who looked at the rocks as well, agreeing with her.
Before long, two Stone Golems were formed from these rocks, Standing over 3 meters tall each and towering over the two men and the one woman.
Mace Wielding Man: Well, it looks like we aren't cleaning cobwebs on this job!
The Battleaxe Wielding Man: Hah, it's just 2 Stone Golems, annoying to fight, sure, but I don't see any Stone nearby for it to rebuild itself with, so this should be easier than normal!
Archer Woman: These aren't natural Stone Golems though, where's the mage who built them?
Mace Wielding Man: Probably inside the Fortress. They should be coming out soon. Hopefully not too soon, though. Hopefully we can kill these Golems beforehand.
The first Golem approached the nearest Man, the one with a Battleaxe and swung its fist at him, its fist collided with his round shield and it was absorbed. The man with a mace took advantage and swung his Mace down onto the Golems arm as soon as its fist collided with his friends shield. The Golems arm shattered and fell off under the impact, leaving the Golem with 1 arm.
Hearing the noise, the Magic Woman finally got out of her daydreaming and saw the fight going on in front of her, she quickly pulled her staff off of her back and aimed it, shooting a fireball at the second Golem, who was gonna swing its fist at the Mace Wielding Man.
The second Golems fist was just about to hit the Mace Wielding Mans shield, but it was cut off by a fireball flying at it, the fire didn't do any damage beyond interrupting the attack.
The two men backed up fully and protected the archer woman, who switched to using her Giant crossbow and was loading a bolt into it,
The Golem missing an arm spent some Mana to start sucking in the destroyed stone and rebuild its arm while the other Golem took a few steps forward, both sides were staring each other down.
After regenerating it's arm, the Golem who was hit with a fireball was about to charge forward, but before it could, Billie Nelson the Named Golem barged through the front gate and stepped forward, the two wood Golems also appeared in one of the Tower windows throwing Rocks down for the Golems to regenerate with.
Archer Woman: Well, this makes the job a bit harder... 3 Stone Golems and a Wood Golem, all of them seem intelligent...
The archer Woman's crossbow was loaded and she lifted it up, aiming it at Billie Nelson.
Battleaxe Wielding Man: Remember, aim for its chest, that's the most likely spot for the Core to be.
Archer Woman: I know, I'm not senile.
She aimed her Crossbow at Billie Nelson, who looked at her with its head tilted.
After a few seconds, she fired the crossbow.
Billie Nelson didn't dodge or block the crossbow bolt flying at him, instead, he... Caught it?...
The 4 adventures tasked with clearing this fortress looked at Billie Nelson with a Dumbfounded expression, staring at the Crossbow bolt resting in its hand. Billie Nelson was looking at the Crossbow, looked at the other two Stone Golems who were looking back at him, and Billie Nelson did a gesture that seemed to say "Yeah, try that". The crossbow bolt was then crushed in its hand.
Mace Wielding Man: Well, the Golems are intelligent. Much more intelligent than I thought. This might be a lot harder than originally planned.
One of the Golems then charged at the Battleaxe Wielding Man with its fist up like it's about to punch, the Battleaxe Wielding Man then raised its shield to block the punch, but instead of throwing the punch, the Golem used its other hand to rip the shield away and punch the now unprotected man.
He luckily had heavy armor on, so the punch was a lot easier to handle, but it still hurts and sent him flying 4 meters back under the impact.
The Golem then Frisbee threw the shield over the fortress wall, so if the guy wanted it back, he'd have to get into the fortress.
Battleaxe Wielding Man: Well... I didn't expect that.
He said as he held the Two handed battleaxe the way it was intended to be wielded.
The Mace Wielding Man was now on guard of having it's shield ripped away, tightening his grip.
The Battleaxe Wielding Man raised his Battleaxe over his head and swung down on the Golem in front of him, who caught the axe and ripped it away as well, tossing it over the wall.
Battleaxe Wielded Man: ... Now that I'm completely disarmed, I'm not sure what to do now...
He raised his hands up like he was gonna start boxing with the Golem, even throwing two punches, which did absolutely nothing to the Golem in question.
The Mace Wielding Man raised its shield up and slowly approached the other Golem, smashing his shield into the Golem and swinging its mace down onto the Golems shoulder.
The Golem was unphased by the shield bash and grabbed the mans Mace Wielding arm, using its other hand to rip the Mace out of its hand and used the Mace to amash the man's head, his bucket helmet caved instantly and he died on the spot.
The remaining 3 were completely caught off guard and stared at their dead friends body in shock.