His cursed blood ran cold as he made that realization.
The golem wasn't alive.
Of course, it wasn't dead either, since its very obviously moving. What Quies meant by that statement was that the golem was not at all similar to other lifeforms on this island. He didn't know why he assumed a golem made out of literal stone to be alive in the first place, but with the ability of his mantra, he was able to quickly squash that false premonition.
'Well, in that case… how does my blood sensing ability work? Can I sense, you know, whatever it is that's keeping this behemoth moving and acting somewhat autonomously? It would be very, very helpful if I could right now!'
Quies' legs, having recovered him from his earlier stumble, carried the weight of his body towards the golem. In his right hand, he held a forming amalgamation of fetid, cursed liquid of an eternal crimson shade. It was once a sword, then a puddle, then flying javelins, and now, back to… whatever it's trying to replicate right now.
It was a spur of a moment thought—one he couldn't answer with complete detail given the situation he was currently in. Despite that, it was an idea worth pondering over.
What were the limits of his blood sensing ability? Not his blood manipulation, but rather, the innate ability to sense the blood in living beings.
Or perhaps, his ability didn't sense blood, but something else that could easily be mistaken for blood. Perhaps it was a life force which all living beings had. He remembered when Valerie had classified monsters into three categories, with one of the labels being 'Construct'. Would this imposing golem in front of him be categorized under that title?
'But if something is a monster, then it has to be alive, right? This thing clearly isn't… or is it? Dammit I'll think about it later!'
Right now, Quies needed to find a way to be able to kill… actually, destroy would be a better word… destroy this Erisian construct.
Quies gazed at its bleeding, fragmented head as he neared the golem. Despite the staggering impact and degree of damage he had done to the right side of the golem's head and torso, it seemed unperturbed. The fragments were seemingly held together by an invisible force—keeping the golem in, technically, one piece.
Ever since the start of this encounter—which, to be fair to the bloodrender, hasn't been too long of a time period—Quies hadn't been able to figure out how to actually damage the golem, or in better words, get it closer to death. Shattering the right side of its head didn't seem to do anything, and despite his creative nature, his options came short.
'I guess I'll use brute force until I figure something out… yeah, brute force usually works most of the time!'
Quies was now a few paces away from the torso of the golem, where he kept his gaze. As his eyes glided to the left side of its stone carapace, the construct began to raise its right arm—shattered at the shoulder—like a hammer to an anvil.
In this case, the anvil was the ground, and Quies was the unfortunate piece of metal wedged between.
As the golem reached towards piercing clouds and pillars of gold wisped air, the shattered stone near its shoulder began to tremble. Quies took a quick glance, noted it in his mind, and locked his gaze back on its left side of its torso.
The stone sculpted gauntlet fell with a might great enough to crush even the hardiest creatures on this island. The thin mountain air glided across its finely crafted surface—sliding across round edges and shifting through its crevices.
Something changed in Quies' ear. A familiar sound of a different timbre.
Crash!
Dirt and soil flew into the air from its terrifying downswing. Its impact on the ground beneath dwarfed its terrifying march of stone that shook the surrounding wilderness. Branches of trees shook with a familiar shock—the grass being torn from their roots and crushed.
From within a billowing whirlwind of dust, Quies leapt with a newfound liberation.
'Holy fucking shit!'
His heart raced as adrenaline surged into his veins—the tension of the thin mountain air thickening. He could feel the drums of life begin to race as sunlight washed over his burned wounds.
Leaping through the dust ridden air, Quies moved his gaze upwards—towards the golem's left shoulder.
With a calculated swiftness, his left leg clipped the steep incline of the golem's angled torso—the left side, to be specific. Using it as a form of leverage, he focused on the leg muscles on his left, feeling the blood course through capillaries and arteries.
He leaped even higher, the golem only just beginning to recover from its previous downslam. With its overall height being lowered, Quies would have an easier time landing-
slip.
'Oh cr-'
Quies feet slid out from under him as the golem suddenly jolted upwards—well, as fast as it could jolt up considering its size. Nevertheless, its sudden change in speed was enough for Quies' greaves to lose grip on the torso's stone perch.
Grasp.
Out of instinct, Quies' left hand reached out and grasped the edges of the golem's torso. His exposed, burnt skin scraped against the grit of the rock, scraping against its surface.
'Gah!'
With his right arm, he swung his pillar of crimson through the air. As it swiftly glided towards the golem, a sharp spike aimed perpendicular to the handle formed—the wind sculpting its lethally honed wedge…
Crack!
As it wedged itself deep within the golem's stone carapace, cracks spread like roots through the earth.