Chapter 99
Chapter 99
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 99
Chapter Title: Golem Cores
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Golems were tricky monsters.
The immense power from their massive bodies.
And unless you destroyed the core somewhere inside them, you couldn't take them down.
"All right, tanks! If you've held off one hit, fall back and rest!"
"Mages, don't burn yourselves out too much!"
Even while staring at that miraculously enormous frame, the party leader's shouts directing everyone didn't come across as all that loud.
Boom-
The stone golem's fist crashed into the shield.
The shield wasn't small by any means, but up against the golem's fist, it just looked like a flimsy metal bookmark.
The tank took a solid hit and immediately retreated, making space for the next ones to step in.
Jeong-hyeon slipped into that opening.
Unlike proper tanks, Jeong-hyeon didn't take attacks head-on.
No matter how strong he'd gotten, facing one of those blows directly would snap his spine.
Boom- Boom-
Instead, he dodged the stone golem's fists with his signature swift movements, by the skin of his teeth.
To the others, he kept vanishing behind fists bigger than his torso, only to pop out amid explosive sounds that sent chills down their spines every time.
"Who's that guy? How's he dodging like that?"
"Right? It's not just his moves—guy's got balls of steel. Whew."
"And he's unregistered? Unreal..."
"Whoa, incoming magic!"
The party leader and the mage who'd first spotted Jeong-hyeon exchanged awed comments, then hurriedly resumed their attacks.
When they'd heard he was unregistered, they'd wondered if they should even let him join.
Maybe wait a bit longer for a decent tank?
Even if he had some fame, he didn't quite measure up to a proper one in their minds.
Plus, his gate experience was solid, but he'd never faced a golem before—that nagged at them.
But wow.
That level of tanking surpassed most C-rank tanks with ease.
'Sure, if you don't get hit, even the strongest attack doesn't matter...'
Everyone knew that.
But knowing and actually dodging every attack were two different things.
One slip meant at least moderate injuries, and the constant full-body evasions drained nearly as much stamina as blocking head-on.
Having him dodge about three attacks per rotation gave the party a huge buffer.
A standard tank in that spot would've made the hunt way tighter.
Meanwhile, while the tanks held the front, the mages' job was to locate the core as fast as possible.
They couldn't just spam high-damage spells.
They needed wide-area weak magic hits, but watching tanks get pummeled up close made it hard for most mages to stay calm and pull it off.
Golem hunts boiled down to patience and time.
So naturally, everyone appreciated Jeong-hyeon for giving them that extra breathing room.
Jeong-hyeon, meanwhile, pondered while dodging the golem's attacks.
'It's so slow, dodging's a breeze.'
What looked like a circus act on the razor's edge to the others felt totally different to him.
He hadn't avoided golem hunts because dodging their attacks was hard.
In fact, being able to move precisely—just enough—was a sign of plenty of physical and mental leeway.
With C-rank agility, level 3 Thought Acceleration, and more, he could've dodged not three attacks, but thirty minutes' worth if he wanted.
But right now, his focus wasn't the golem's sluggish swings.
It was the golem's left thigh.
Boom-
Dodging another plunging fist just barely, his gaze stayed locked on one spot.
'Something's there.'
He wasn't seeing anything specific.
But something was definitely there.
The origin and convergence point of all the energy animating the golem.
In his mind, it was almost certainly the core.
They called it the "golem core," but really, it was just mana densely condensed like an engine.
That's why traits like Mana Sensitivity or other magic ones could detect it.
When the body was intact, though, the frame hid the mana flows, so it didn't stand out.
If sensing mana let you pinpoint golem cores, hunts would've been way easier.
So how had Jeong-hyeon zeroed in?
Truth be told, he'd have been doubtful otherwise, but he'd had a similar experience in the King's Playground.
By holding both Combat Sense and Mana Sensitivity—conditions that defied common sense—he'd tracked the boss's threads.
The same principle let him sense the golem's core.
'It worked, just as I hoped.'
After close-up checks a few times, he was certain.
That was the core.
"You can fall back now!"
After dodging his allotted three attacks, he heard the call and pulled back.
He retreated a bit farther than usual and drew Black.
"Han Jeong-hyeon, Hunter—what're you doing?"
A signal came from the rear immediately.
Put away the dagger that couldn't even scratch the golem and stick to tanking, basically.
But now that he'd found the core, why bother watching mages chip away at the body?
'It's a mine, after all.'
He couldn't just blurt out, "Pretty sure the core's in its left thigh."
He'd learned from experience: if words failed to convey, just do it yourself.
Decision made, it was now a race against time.
He wrapped neutral mana around Black in a flash and hurled it at the target.
With magic-trait hunters around, he couldn't let them spot the enchantment.
Even if they did, it had to pass so fast they'd just blink in confusion.
Crunch-
"?"
Who'd think that sound was a dagger hitting stone?
Black left his hand and shredded through rock and all, piercing clean.
To non-agility types, it'd look like swinging his arm punched a head-sized hole in the thigh instantly.
Honestly, even Jeong-hyeon was a bit surprised by his own handiwork.
'Didn't expect this much...'
Stone golem or not, its rock was leagues tougher than Earth's.
He'd figured the dagger might embed, and with mana, reach the core.
But it didn't just reach—it blew straight through the body.
The golem was way softer than he'd thought.
Or maybe he was way stronger.
Thud-
With its core gone, the golem lost power and collapsed its massive frame to the ground.
Just five minutes into the fight.
"......"
The party stared blankly, glancing between Jeong-hyeon and the golem, speechless.
A solid party took about thirty minutes for a stone golem.
Most of that was core-hunting; once found, downing it was easy.
Theoretically, five minutes wasn't impossible.
But that required lucking into the core and blasting it with a mage's heavy spell.
With just one dagger?
'I'd throw daggers too if it worked like that.'
That was the mages' honest take.
The title of overwhelming firepower—once mages' domain—had slipped to this nobody.
***
Thud-
"No way, your instincts are insane! How do you find them so fast?"
"Instinct, I guess."
After dropping the first stone golem in one go, Jeong-hyeon no longer tanked up front.
He didn't get how he'd done it, but every dagger toss carved deep chunks out of average golems.
And after a few throws, it always hit the core—so joining him beat dodging three hits.
Of course, all thanks to his controlled strength.
"Agility build? Should we bring an archer next time?"
"Nah, remember that archer we tried? Useless. Han Jeong-hyeon, Hunter—you're the real deal."
"Tch, yeah."
With his new role, golem clears dropped to about fifteen minutes each.
He could've shaved more by missing cores on purpose sometimes or skimping mana, but no need.
Halving hunt times already eased the tanks' load plenty.
'As expected from a new monster—great coin drops.'
Jeong-hyeon was plenty satisfied.
Golems dropped coins at nearly 50%.
Couldn't farm hordes at once, but way better yields than his usual gates.
'Golem's Land' featured all sorts.
Stone basics, then bronze, iron, and rare gate-exclusive minerals.
Thud- Boom-
Distant footsteps rumbled the ground.
Another golem sensing the hunters, approaching.
Prepping for battle, the hunters sighed at the reveal.
"Whoa? Plodium!"
"Clear out, quick!"
"Damn, Plodium of all things..."
Their first rare-mineral encounter since entering: a Plodium Golem.
Rare-mineral golems were avoided.
Earth-stone or iron ones took magic damage fine.
But rares had sky-high magic resistance.
They made hunter gear for their mana conductivity, after all.
Magic still worked, but halved power meant longer fights—worse efficiency.
Prices soared over regulars, but most dodged unless committing physical-heavy specialists.
"We'll full-speed evac for about ten minutes. Get ready."
Luckily, golems moved slow; a short run dropped aggro.
Standard rare-golem protocol for most parties.
Unless a pro physical squad, they were a hassle.
"Hurry, hurry—Han Jeong-hyeon, Hunter?"
As everyone geared to flee.
A tank called out puzzled.
He stared straight at the Plodium Golem, no intent to run.
"How about we give it a shot?"
"Nah, no way. That artifact? Boosts attack with magic damage, right? Won't work."
The tank shook his head fast at Jeong-hyeon's innocent question.
They'd pegged Black as the source of his freakish Throwing Skill.
Auto-return plus mystery magic damage for insane power.
He threw fast, kept neutral mana hidden—mages couldn't tell, and he skipped enchanting sometimes.
But Jeong-hyeon's eyes on the Plodium Golem held strange certainty.