Chapter 00036: Your Mission Is Over
# Your Mission Is Over
Chapter 36
Novel: AFK Game: Portal to Another World
Chapter 36: Your Mission Is Over
Every swing of the golem missed its mark, but the immense force of its attacks reverberated through the floor into the soles of everyone’s feet, making them fully aware that a single hit would send them to their graves.
Though things hadn’t yet reached a critical point, their stamina wasn’t infinite.
Flesh and blood could never match the endless endurance of machinery.
If they couldn’t find any opening, the stalemate would only increase the risk of being killed by a single blow.
“We should retreat. Let’s get out first and think of a new plan,” suggested Zhuoya.
It was the most appropriate option, and Zola knew it too.
But she wasn’t willing.
They had come all this way under the Lord’s guidance, and yet, now they had to slink away in defeat?
Was there really no other way?
“Zola! I know you don’t want to, but for now we have no choice but to retreat!”
Just as Zhuoya finished speaking, she saw a burst of divine radiance rise up in front of Zola, who had her back to her.
Druid Al exclaimed, “That’s divine arts! Could it be that the Lord Demon God is intervening?”
Golden holy light danced and flickered in front of Zola.
At first, she was a little flustered, but then it was as though she received some reminder from the Demon God.
She dropped her steel sword and reached out to the divine light.
The unstable radiance quickly gathered in Zola’s hand and, in the blink of an eye, transformed into a heavy warhammer radiating golden light.
“A channeling weapon… this is the power bestowed upon me by the Lord! I understand now! I will not betray His expectations!”
Zola grabbed the massive hammer, one even taller than herself, and held it as if it weighed nothing.
“Use lassos!” she ordered.
The two Royal Guards engaged with the golem immediately removed the ropes from their waists.
Their fingers moved swiftly, forming loops in an instant.
A knight wasn’t just a sword-swinger—rope work was a traditional skill.
Some poorer knights even made a modest living by weaving ropes at home.
Zola purposely stepped forward a few paces, drawing the golem’s attention as it raised its arms.
At that instant, the Royal Guards to her left and right tossed out their loops, perfectly hooking onto the golem’s arms.
The golem’s strength wasn’t something any human could match.
Even if someone could resist its power, the ropes would surely snap.
They quickly tied the ends around nearby stone pillars, and as soon as they finished, the ropes pulled taut.
Thick as a finger and treated with oil, the hemp ropes were incredibly sturdy, but still began to fray under the golem’s raw might.
Fibers burst open in layers.
Druid Al seized the moment and summoned vines once more, binding the golem’s legs as it tried to tug free.
With this three-way tug-of-war, the golem finally faltered for a moment.
“Strength Boost!”
Zola seized the split-second opening and bolted toward the golem.
“Strength Overboost!”
With the enhancement of battle techniques, Zola swung the channeling weapon given to her by the Demon God and brought it smashing down on the golem’s waist.
This time, the solid armor immediately caved inward.
The holy energy forming the hammer pierced deep into the body.
“Haaaah!”
With a shout, Zola yanked the hammer back.
The weapon’s barbed end hooked into the armor plate.
Massive rivets popped loose from the brutal force, and Zola tore away a chunk of the plating, revealing inside a mass of glowing gears driven by magical light.
At that instant, the ropes finally gave out, snapping with sharp bangs as the golem freed its arms and shot a punch toward Zola.
Just then, Zola was recovering from that massive swing, entering the phase where her old strength had spent and the new hadn’t yet formed—just like what martial artists called that most dangerous gap in momentum.
Dodging cleanly was impossible.
“Phased Shot!”
At the critical moment, an arrow loosed from Zhuoya’s bow.
The arrow vanished the moment it left the string—as if melting into air—and simultaneously appeared in the exposed opening of the golem’s body, as though it had been there all along.
Phased Shot was the ability of a magic archer: once the target was locked, the projectile would always hit, ignoring the travel time.
The arrowhead stuck precisely into the gear in the golem’s waist.
Sparks burst out in a flurry, and its downward strike suddenly halted, as if its motion had rusted.
That pause granted Zola one more opening.
With a flick of her wrists, the massive hammer in her hands split in the divine light into two smaller hammers.
Agile as a cat, Zola hammered the golem’s back with the twin hammers, climbing up like she was scaling a cliff with ice axes.
“Invaders! Show me your strength! The Ring of the Demon King watches over you!”
The golem’s head twisted 180 degrees to face Zola as she ascended.
“This is for the Lord’s trust!”
Her twin hammers pounded down with relentless fury.
Bang, bang, bang—the golem’s once neat head became a crumpled mess.
With a sharp clang, the arrow embedded in the gear bounced free.
The golem’s movement became fluid again as it reached for Zola.
Rather than leaping away like Zhuoya had done, Zola swung her dual hammers downward and hooked the golem’s chin with their barbed ends.
“A product of the Mythic Era! You should have vanished long ago!”
Empowered by battle techniques, the force from Zola’s arms overwhelmed the golem’s metal structure.
Groaning and creaking rang out from the stressed frame.
Just before its fingers could reach her, the golem’s neck gave a loud crack, and Zola wrenched its entire head free, which clattered to the floor.
The magical light flickering beneath its armor exploded in a final pulse and then vanished.
The golem lost its balance, crashing backward with a monumental thud before falling still.
“Inva… ders… show… your strength… Ring of the Demon King…”
The severed head on the floor was still muttering its broken refrain, now intermittent and glitching like a device about to short-circuit.
Breathing hard and bracing her hands on her knees, Zola was clearly exhausted from the effort.
Still, upon hearing the words of the golem, she turned her head and said:
“The Lord has been watching us all along. Your mission is over.”
The red dot that seemed to represent the golem’s eye finally dimmed and went dark, falling silent for good.
The others quickly gathered around to confirm if the golem had truly shut down.
Zhuoya looked at the ring on the golem’s right hand:
“Is this the Ring of the Demon King it was talking about?”
“Any of you ever heard of it before?”
Everyone shook their heads, but Druid Al spoke up:
“I recall a legend that says the Demon God wore ten rings of great power on His fingers. Could this golem have been guarding one of the Demon God’s artifacts?”
Zola walked over to the golem's hand upon hearing that.
She looked at the gaudy ruby ring on its finger, then suddenly lifted her foot.
“The Lord’s ring would never be worn by a golem! This thing’s a fake!”
Her iron-booted foot stomped down, crushing the unprotected finger of the golem—and smashing the ring along with it.
The ruby popped free and rolled across the floor.
There’s no way a divine artifact would break from a single stomp.
The ring must have been a counterfeit.
Just as the group realized this, the sound of shifting stone came from not far behind.
Behind the throne, slightly above its backrest, a smooth stone wall opened up to reveal a palm-sized metal box.
One side of the box had an incredibly complex keyhole design, as if challenging anyone’s understanding of how a key should work.
Zola reached into her pouch as soon as she saw it, pulling out the intricately shaped Key of the Demon King.
Holding it up to the lock, she fit it in gently.
A perfect fit.
Everyone exchanged glances and gave nods.
Zola turned the key.
With a faint click, the lid of the box popped open.
The light covering the Key of the Demon King shattered and faded in a burst.
Its mission complete, and with the spell upon it dispelled, the key naturally disappeared as well.
There was no further need for it.
Inside the opened box was a plain gold ring, set with a simple cats eye gem.
In style, it was far less ornate than the golem’s flashy ring.
Druid Al gasped, “Look—it’s lying on deerskin! And it’s still like new!”
The Mythic Era had been thousands of years ago.
Any normal deerskin would’ve rotted to dust.
At that moment, everyone knew.
This plain ring within the box—this was the true Ring of the Demon King.
(End of Chapter)