Before I knew it, the giant stone golem lunged at me and raised its arm.
'Damnit!'
I jump to the left, just barely dodging the golem slamming its hand on the ground.
For a moment, the dumb brute checks under its fist to see if I am smashed.
'This is my chance!'
I run as fast as I can to the crouching giant's back, then I draw my sword and hit the crystal again, though my sword shatters on impact.
'No!'
I fall back and hit my head on the golem's hard, rocky body.
"Gr?"
It lets out a rumble and looks back at me, then it shakes me off of it.
I am sent flying into a tree.
My wounded back slams against the tree, blood spurting from the almost healed scars.
I hear a snap.
"AGHH!"
I scream out in pain.
Is this it?
No.
It can't be.
I've asked that question before, and every single time the answer was no.
I'm not going to die.
I have too much resolve to just let my consciousness slip to never come back again.
Now I must focus on the situation at hand.
My spine might be fractured, but I can still move.
This thing must have a weakness, but I don't know what it is.
Nor do I know if I am in a position to exploit it.
I think my best bet will be to crawl away and observe, though I might not be able to keep up with its speed.
I could just sit here and wait for a Prince Charming to save me… but no.
That's too pathetic AND too gay.
I'll go with the former.
I start crawling in the direction of the shallow lake behind me.
I don't think it's too deep, but if it is, I can't swim, so I'll likely drown.
But that's a risk I'm going to take, for the lake is open so I can better observe the golem.
Why am I so strategic all of a sudden? Aren't you supposed to panic in fear?
But wait a second, I've been through panic over and over again.
That was all the training for fighting against the pressure of looming death.
I can do this!
I keep crawling to the lake, even though it's painful as hell.
Move it, Griffin!
Move!
Eventually, my hands and knees touch the water, but I can't rest here.
I must keep moving.
As I progress into the lake, the ground shakes from the stone golem's heavy stomps.
"Grrr!"
The golem rumbles in anger and sprints towards me.
'That thing can sprint? What do I do now?'
As I think I'm cornered, something happens.
The golem steps back in panic as soon as its large leg touches the water.
'What? Is it scared of water or something?'
That is so strange, wait…
Water could be its weakness!
That actually makes sense now; I remember in its description, the system mentioned the golem's 'elemental weakness' was water!
So that means that earth monsters are weak to water…
implying that a monster's counter would be the respective natural counter to its element!
Now, how should I get it in the water?
It seems to hate the water more than I…
So how can I kill it?
It's a puppy guarding the lake!
"Hmm."
Wait!
I remember something!
When my mother used to tell me stories as a child, she mentioned that golems go crazy over shiny rocks.
So all I need is a shiny rock…
And lakes are packed with those!
For a minute, I dig around in the sand under me, pulling out rock after rock, but none of them are shiny.
Suddenly, I pulled out a hunk of gold!
"Gold! This is worth so much!"
Not only can I get some good money from this… It can save my life!
I hold the gold in the air, and all of a sudden, the golem goes feral and runs into the lake.
'Nice!'
Suddenly it falls to its knees and rumbles.
"Grrrr!"
This is my chance!
I crawl towards the golem as fast as I can and climb on its back.
'So painful!'
As soon as I reach the crystal, I get my broken sword from my inventory and grip it tightly.
Maybe when the golem is vulnerable, so is its crystal!
I strike down, and the crystal shatters; the golem rumbles but is cut off.
Likely by death.
It falls face-first into the ground, and I fall off.
I painfully hit the ground.
My body is in agony, but that doesn't matter.
I've beaten the golem.
And learned a little while doing it.