The Obsidian Golem

It seemed the condition for the hidden boss’s appearance was acquiring the hidden piece. Nothing like this had ever shown up even on Extreme difficulty, but now that the game had become reality, something must have changed.

…Or maybe I got dropped into Extreme Hell difficulty—the one I never even tried?

That would explain why there were gimmicks I didn’t know about.

I’d thought it strange that the thing hadn’t appeared the moment the Lizard Lord died, only showing up a little while after I stepped out. First things first—I needed to check the golem’s information.

…No good. Come to think of it, the traces of the Demon King’s army discovered here were said to belong to the Magic Corps Commander.

Damn it…

Maybe because this was a golem crafted by the Magic Corps Commander himself, I couldn’t freely inspect its data. Even the status window was useless now.

“Just looking at it, its magic resistance seems ridiculously high.”

That was Letisia’s assessment. If the Magic Corps Commander had built it, of course it would be thoroughly prepared against magic.

The real problem, though…

“Physical resistance will be high too. It’s a golem.”

By their very nature, golems never had low physical defense. The silver lining was that this particular one was an Obsidian Golem.

“Listen up, everyone.”

“Yes?”

“What is it~?”

In Dungeon in Evil on Extreme difficulty, one of the mid-game bosses was a creature called the Obsidian Soldier. High attack power, high physical and magic resistance—yet it had one fatal weakness. If this golem was made of the same obsidian… the same volcanic glass… it should share a similar flaw.

“Whatever attack you use, smash it straight down. Focus everything on one spot.”

“What happens if we do that?”

“Does the direction really matter?”

Does it matter? Would I be saying it if it didn’t?

I nodded firmly.

“Keep hammering the same impact and it’ll eventually shatter. That’s just how obsidian works.”

Obsidian is a mineral that, hardness aside, fractures easily. It’s even called volcanic glass because its properties are so similar to glass.

Of course, real-world obsidian and the game’s version weren’t identical, but in Dungeon in Evil, obsidian had a clear trait: it split cleanly when struck repeatedly from a single direction.

“Judging the exact angle and spot on the fly will be tough.”

I watched the Obsidian Golem lumbering closer until it stood right in front of us.

“I’ll call the target for you.”

“Do we really have to listen to a Heojeop~?”

“You said this dungeon was my call.”

“…Pfft♡ You actually remembered that~ Even though you forget everything else~♡”

Erinn giggled, then grinned.

“Fine, we’ll do it your way. Show us what you’ve got~!”

“Right shoulder!”

The instant light particles began gathering around the Obsidian Golem’s left arm, I barked the order. Erinn launched herself skyward in a flash and brought her sword down in a perfect vertical strike. A sharp clang rang out, but the shoulder didn’t shatter on the first hit. That alone told us how high its physical resistance really was.

Ser-Aria’s arrow detonated on impact—but the direction was wrong. She’d aimed at the left arm where the light particles were gathering instead of the right shoulder. She must have been trying to interrupt the Light Cannon.

Ziiing!

Completely useless, of course. I snapped an order at her.

“Just hit the spot I call! It’s not a cast—you can’t interrupt it mid-way!”

“Eh? I thought it was magic! It’s not?”

Hearing it wasn’t a cast, Ser-Aria gave up and loosed her next arrow at the right arm instead. The attack simply had a long wind-up; it wasn’t a spell that could be cancelled.

The party focused their fire beautifully. Just as I thought the shoulder was about to crack, the golem’s attack finished charging.

No one else could gauge the exact moment the light particles would finish gathering. Only I, thanks to the status messages, could give them the warning.

“Incoming! Everyone dodge!”

“!”

KWAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!

The instant I shouted, the light particles that had gathered on the golem’s left arm erupted in a searing beam. The speed was monstrous—if I hadn’t warned them, they never would have gotten clear in time.

“That almost hit me…!”

“Freya, are you all right?”

“Yes, I managed to block it.”

The party exchanged startled glances, checking on one another. The beam had been that threatening. The shot that missed them punched clean through the dungeon wall, proof of its raw power.

It took time to charge, but once it fired it was lethally dangerous.

So why was I completely fine?

…What the hell?

The golem wasn’t paying me the slightest attention. I was the one who had stolen that “piece,” yet it was only targeting the rest of the party.

Clang!!!

Erinn slammed the Holy Sword into the golem’s shoulder again. The golem clenched its left fist.

Threat level…? Ah.

I understood why it was ignoring me. The golem was systematically eliminating whoever it currently judged most dangerous.

Because this was a Hero’s party packed with elites, a useless porter like me had been shoved to the bottom of the priority list.

I wasn’t sure whether to call that lucky or not…

Another warning message. I shouted urgently to Erinn.

“Erinn!”

But by the time the words left my mouth she had already opened distance. The golem’s fist whistled through empty air, kicking up nothing more than a brief gust of wind. No damage at all.

Erinn landed lightly in a safe spot and looked back at me.

“What is it, Heojeop Allen♡”

“…Ah, nothing. Just… hang in there.”

Was that the power of her Sixth Sense trait? Erinn’s level in it was already 8… which meant I ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠didn’t have to worry about the Rogue either, whose Sixth Sense was even higher.

Still, being ignored was a relief. Just because I’d gained a magic stat didn’t mean this body could suddenly do anything useful. All I could manage was calling out incoming attacks from the rear.

Even so…

The party was fighting well. It was hard to believe they’d only been together a few months—every one of them was outstanding.

So I’d leave the fighting to ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠them… and faithfully do a porter’s job.

“You can do it!! Just a little more and it’ll crack!”

After all, a porter’s true role is head cheerleader.

When Allen’s distant shout of encouragement reached her, Erinn let out a little snort of laughter. Ser-Aria chuckled lightly as well.

“It’s tough. Didn’t Allen say it would shatter easily?”

“You actually believed something dummy Allen said, Aria~?”

“Well…”

Ser-Aria grinned.

“I do.”

“…Pfft♡”

Erinn glanced at the golem, which looked ready to attack again, and remembered everything Allen had told her.

“Trust your comrades… Pfft, he sure has a way with words for a scrub~♡”

She turned to Ser-Aria.

“Aria, run the opposite way from me.”

Ser-Aria smirked, then tipped the last of the liquor she carried into her mouth and laughed.

“Puhaha! I get it!”

“…I’ll support.”

Nameless stepped forward slightly. Erinn nodded.

“Then this time let’s smash it to pieces and leave one arm hanging in tatters~♡”

“I’ll draw its attention.”

Letisia looked at her spirits, then cracked her whip lightly.

“All right, everyone heard that? Let’s make it spectacular, ufu~!”

Snap!! Crack!

The whip lashed across the spirits’ bodies. Empowered, they unleashed their strength. Salamander’s flames, Gnome’s stone, Undine’s waves, and Sylph’s gales mixed into harmonious attributes.

Flames coiled around rock; waves and wind spun into a water tornado. The blended elemental assault hammered the golem’s right arm.

KWA-GAGAGANG!!!

Cracks spider-webbed across the solid right arm. The spirits, strengthened by the whip, hit with terrifying force.

Naturally the golem’s priority shifted. Erinn wasn’t doing anything at the moment, after all. But Letisia and the others had been counting on exactly that.

“Here I go!”

Ser-Aria sprinted the opposite direction from Erinn first, drawing a bead on the left arm as if she meant to attack it. The golem automatically shifted into a stance to protect that arm—and Ser-Aria loosed her arrow.

An arrow with far greater explosive force than Explosive Arrow slammed into the right arm that had moved to guard the left. And then—

BOOOOOOM!!!

The existing cracks tore open wider. Too late, the golem realized it had been tricked and tried to correct its stance.

Mana surged from the golem’s core into both arms once more.

“It’s slamming its arms down again!”

Just as Allen warned, the Obsidian Golem raised its arms high, intending to smash the floor. That would create terrible footing for any human who needed solid ground.

The wind-up was huge—and that created an opening. At some point the Rogue, Nameless, had leapt high, twin daggers wreathed in razor-sharp mana already in hand.

Kakakakak!!!

As a class specialized in killing living beings, Nameless struggled to deal heavy damage to an inorganic golem. But relentlessly and precisely exploiting cracks already opened by two powerful prior attacks? That was exactly what Rogues did best.

The vertically driven daggers sank deep, widening the fissures further. To stop them the golem pulled its left arm back to protect the right, still intending to smash the floor with that same right arm.

When the left arm swept out, the Rogue abandoned the daggers and darted clear. That gave the golem all the time it needed; without hesitation it brought its right arm crashing down.

“Trying to break the floor?”

But standing exactly where that arm would land was a tiny Hero with golden twin-tails.

“Then that Heojeop wouldn’t be able to stand, would he~?”

Light blazed along the Holy Sword in her grip. Mana beyond anything anyone present could match gathered into a single blade.

“So I won’t allow it.”

The mana transformed into a sacred edge—

a blade that severs all evil.

The Hero’s overwhelming power layered upon it.

ZZZEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK──────────!!

A slash that could cleave stars was complete.

The Obsidian Golem’s forearm split completely. The cracks had already been severe; the massive impact forced them wider until the arm finally tore apart.

Naturally the attempt to smash the floor came to nothing. The Obsidian Golem seemed to suffer a sudden system error from the unexpected development.

Erinn’s slash had struck the golem’s arm like a giant siege ram. Not only was the arm split—the crack that began at the shoulder now ran all the way down toward the chest.

The Saintess’s blessing had helped, of course, but this was still proof of Erinn’s ridiculous strength. She might look like a brat, but a Hero was still a Hero.

…She’s disgustingly strong.

I decided to put the idea of giving her a knuckle sandwich on hold for a while.

Then, suddenly, the Obsidian Golem’s status window—which had refused to open until now—appeared.

Everything except the traits ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠was now visible. Destroying part of the golem must have glitched its access permissions. One line jumped out at me.

Core exposed?

I looked at the golem again. Through the crack that now ran from shoulder to chest, something faintly luminous was visible.

“…That’s the golem’s core! Left side of the chest!”

“…Found it!”

As the status window showed, the golem possessed monstrous strength and vitality. Its traits were still hidden, but it almost certainly had high physical and magic resistance.

The fastest way to shut down a golem with that kind of defense was to target the core. Anyone who’d played games or consumed fantasy media knew that basic rule.

Two people in this party could execute that plan with perfect precision. I called them out at the top of my lungs.

“Aria, Rogue! You’re up!”

“I’ll pin the golem in place!”

Freya’s cry rang out as powerful holy energy flared.

Golden chains erupted from thin air and bound the golem’s entire body. At the same moment Ser-Aria and the Rogue leapt skyward.

Of course the golem thrashed to protect its core. With its movement temporarily sealed by the chains, it converted its vast mana reserves into a barrier that wrapped the core.

If Aria or the Rogue simply threw arrows and daggers from range, they’d be blocked. Someone would have to break that shield first…

Then Ser-Aria nocked an arrow and spoke to the Rogue.

“Rogue. You trust this big sis, right?”

At the loaded question the Rogue gave a small nod.

“…Yeah.”

The Rogue, who had leapt toward the core, clung to the wall for a moment while Ser-Aria drew her bow in mid-air.

I was still wondering what they were planning when Ser-Aria released the fully drawn string.

A powerful mana arrow left Ser-Aria’s hand. A fraction of a second earlier, the Rogue kicked off the wall and rocketed straight toward the golem’s core.

“Wait—!”

What the hell are they doing!?

At that trajectory the Rogue risked being caught in the arrow’s aftermath. This wasn’t an ordinary arrow—it was charged with mana. Colliding with the golem’s shield would create a massive shockwave.

“Rogue, stop!”

I shouted for them to abort, but the Rogue didn’t slow. She dove headlong toward the chest where the core lay.

An instant later, exactly as expected, Ser-Aria’s arrow slammed into the Mana Shield.

KUUUGOOOOOOM!!!

Did they do that on purpose…?

I had a bad feeling, but nothing else made sense. They were trying to slip through the brief window when the Mana Shield shattered. I understood the idea—but the sheer recklessness of it made me explode.

“What the hell are you doing, Aria!”

“Hmm? Allen?”

“Why would you make the Rogue do something like that!?”

In theory the method worked. But the slightest miscalculation and the Rogue—whose job was to infiltrate—would take the full brunt of the arrow’s residual force.

It was practically a suicide charge. The situation hadn’t been desperate enough to justify that kind of risk.

Yet when Ser-Aria heard my shout she simply threw her head back and laughed, then pointed at the golem’s core.

“…!?”

Amazingly, the Rogue was already inside the Mana Shield. She had timed the entry perfectly…?

She drove a silver dagger into the golem’s core, then slammed it straight down, completely bisecting the core.

The Mana Shield surrounding it began to fade. And the golem that had lost its core…

…was completely neutralized.

This hadn’t been a lucky combo. It was a coordinated strike only possible between people who were both exceptionally skilled and who understood each other’s abilities with absolute precision.

“Allen.”

Ser-Aria turned to me with a hearty laugh.

“Next time you’re calling the shots, remember stuff like this works too! Puhaha!”