A Golem Was Never Meant to Speak

Golems were never meant to speak. More often than not, they couldn't even grasp the orders given to them — a shortcoming counted among their defining flaws, right alongside movements that were painfully slow. And yet, if one looked at raw destructive power alone, a level 500 golem swinging its fist hit harder than most fire or explosion magic.

"A golem?"

"A bit small for a golem, isn't it?"

"A bit? It's just small. And yet it's... talking."

The three teammates found it strange as well. Even a weak golem ought to have been larger than this — and stranger still, it hadn't been crafted by hand. It had been called through a summoning stone.

"Please... issue... your command."

Clumsy as it was, the golem was truly speaking. Plenty of summons could communicate. A talking golem, though, was a first.

Yujun asked it, "How can you talk?"

"Do you... mean me?"

"Yeah. You."

"I do not know."

"You don't know how you're speaking?"

"Correct."

"What's your name?"

"Please decide, Master."

Unlike Paranet, it seemed to have no name already fixed to it. A summoned golem, as opposed to one that had been manufactured, usually came with a name of its own. In every respect, this one broke the mold.

"How about Paranet Two?"

"...Does that carry some special meaning?"

"Yeah. My first summon is named Paranet."

"No matter how I consider it, that does not seem right."

The golem said it perfectly straight. Hard to tell, of course, when it had no face to straighten.

The golem that had nearly become Paranet Two opened its mouth again.

"I would prefer an ordinary name."

"An ordinary name..."

Yujun sank into thought. Left to his usual habits, he would have slapped any old ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠name on a golem and been done with it, but the one he had summoned this time was no ordinary golem.

"I'll take suggestions."

He turned to his teammates. For a moment, no one spoke.

"Suggestions?"

"You're asking us?"

"Yes."

Yujun's face was utterly shameless. Even the golem stared at him as if the whole thing were absurd.

"Isn't that something the master is supposed to decide?"

Leonhard said it as if speaking for the golem. Yujun answered with a mild smile.

"And where in the world is anything truly fixed? It all depends on the person."

"...Then may I offer one?"

"Please. Go ahead."

"What of Leon?"

"Leon?"

"Yes."

"That's rather close to Leonhard."

"Which is precisely why I recommend it."

"I'll think about it. Anyone else?"

A chance to catch the eye of the player sitting at rank one. Erger raised his hand.

"How about Power Golem?"

"...Power Golem?"

"Yes!"

Yujun said nothing. He had heard that name somewhere, and yet the memory refused to surface. As a player, he ought to have remembered.

If I did remember, it probably wouldn't be allowed anyway. Something like that.

"Erger, was it?"

"That's right."

"What do you think of Fallen Power Golem?"

"Oh? Magnificent. You've refined it into something even more elegant than what I suggested. I truly think it's excellent."

"...You mean that?"

"Yes. How splendid is it? A Power Golem, and fallen besides. A name worthy of a rank-one player's summon — a perfect fit."

"You're not Korean, are you, Erger?"

"Kor...ean? Do you mean a human?"

"No. Forget it."

Asking his teammates to name a summon had been the problem from the start. The Continent folk's sense for names was a bitter disappointment.

This wouldn't do.

Yujun thought, and thought again, and at last settled on a name. He let out a long sigh and opened his mouth.

"Your name is Tapagol."

"Tapa...gol. It pleases me, Master. I would like to know precisely what Tapagol means."

"It's short for Fallen Power Golem. Ta for fallen, pa for power, gol for golem."

"...Pardon?"

"Tapagol. Doesn't sound half bad, does it?"

"...Yes."

Faced with Yujun's perfectly serious expression, the golem — Tapagol — had no choice but to nod.

Let's take a look at the stats.

He had summoned it to find a path through the maze, but he was desperately curious about what Tapagol could actually do.

801? That's insane.

He hadn't even known a level like 801 existed. He had never seen a player or a monster past 700, let alone 800. Did the Tower of Infinity have no level cap at all? Could a mere summon's level really climb this high?

Usually a summon comes in lower than the player who called it.

Anything brought forth by a summoning stone was influenced by the player's stats. By all rights, it should have appeared at a level below his own. Tapagol was different.

Does that mean my total stats are that high?

This had happened because his own stats had long since blown past level 800.

Hard to believe this is a golem specialized as a guide.

Even so, its strength didn't scale in perfect proportion to that level.

Still, level is a tyrant.

From level 500 onward, every hundred levels opened a staggering gap — a difference of caliber, even when the stats looked the same. To overcome it, you had to be overwhelmingly stronger than the higher-leveled opponent.

Thanks to Tapagol, at least I know level 800 can exist.

Was there no limit to how strong one could become in the Tower of Infinity? This was different from the War of the Gods. Either there was no level cap, or it sat very high. If so, he couldn't afford to grow complacent just because his items performed well, he held plenty of titles at Legendary and above, he carried the power of the Primordial Player, and his traits and skills were excellent.

Or can I? At this point, a little complacency might be fine.

When had his status window gotten this flashy?

"Tapagol."

"Yes."

"Can you get us out of this maze?"

"It will not be difficult."

"Yeah?"

"Yes."

"What about finding the Ruler of the Labyrinth?"

"The Ruler?"

"Yeah."

"You must explain... exactly what manner of being a Ruler is."

"I don't know either."

"Ah."

"Wait."

Yujun closed his eyes and spread his senses wide. That alone wouldn't be enough to find the Ruler. The labyrinth was riddled with sealed-off spaces, so he drew on his mana as well.

Vmmm—!

A wave of mana unfurled in thin threads.

As expected. It's huge.

Even with his high Magic, sweeping the entire vast maze was too much.

I'll have to search straight through the walls.

He couldn't smash walls so high their tops were lost to sight, but peering past them was possible. That method, however, demanded a staggering amount of mana. Yujun pulled upper-mid mana potions from his inventory as fast as his hands could find them.

"Th-those are mana potions, aren't they?"

Leonhard was startled.

"Judging by the color, those are at least mid-grade... and you have dozens of them?"

Erger was aghast.

Unlike in the War of the Gods, potions were exceedingly precious in the Tower of Infinity. They were expensive, yes — but more than that, there were simply too few alchemists who could make them. Supply ran short, and the number of players who needed potions was far too large. The lowest and low grades were available in some quantity, but from mid-grade upward, even money struggled to buy them. Mana potions, in particular, were harder to come by than health potions — closer to plucking stars out of the sky. They took more materials, and only a more skilled alchemist could brew a mana potion of decent quality.

So when Yujun drew dozens of mana potions from his inventory, how could his teammates fail to be shocked? Of course it caused an uproar.

Potions are the one thing overflowing in my inventory. No reason to be stingy.

Not merely a lot — more than he could possibly count. The reason Yujun had so many was simple. In the War of the Gods, health potions and mana potions could be bought with real money. There had been a purchase limit, but it reset after a week, and every time it did, he bought out the entire stock. Even he couldn't spend highest-grade health and mana potions carelessly. Upper-mid mana potions, though, he could drink like water.

"What on earth do you mean to do with that many potions?"

Erger asked. A smile touched Yujun's lips.

"Finding the Ruler."

Neither of the others had an answer for that.

Pinning down a Ruler's location wasn't difficult if he simply poured mana into the search. The Rulers of a region gave off a certain presence. All he had to do was find it.

"Hoo..."

His mana ran dry. He had spread so much of it hunting for the Ruler that the bottom showed almost at once. Yujun gulped down upper-mid mana potions, and four bottles emptied in an instant. The other three teammates stared, spellbound. Yujun paid them no mind and kept drinking.

The moment the twenty-third potion vanished, his eyes flew open.

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

"Found it."

"F-found it? Truly?"

Erger came closer, eyes wide. Yujun nodded.

"I know the location, at least. The problem is..."

"The problem?"

"Now we have to know the way there."

"...Hmm. That's serious."

"Not really."

"What?"

"Tapagol."

"Yes...!"

"You received the location, right? Lead the way."

"Understood."

That was the convenience of a guide golem. The summoner could pass along a known location without explaining it in words. In the game, he used to mark a spot with a single click on the minimap. The method was a little different here, but the convenience was much the same.

"I will guide the way."

"Good."

The guide golem moved. Its build was small for a golem, but its level was higher than anyone Yujun had ever seen, and watching Tapagol take the lead was strangely reassuring.

Then Erger leaned in and spoke at his ear.

"Are we really just following it blindly?"

"Why?"

"We can't wander a maze trusting a single summon, can we?"

"No. We have to trust that one."

"What?"

"It's a master at finding paths. Especially somewhere the roads are tangled, like a maze."

"A summon that finds paths? Such a thing exists?"

"You'll see."

Guide golems. Not many people knew they existed — only those who had played the War of the Gods.

Tapagol pressed on without hesitation. Not once did the path dead-end. It moved as if it had every road memorized.

"How is that even possible?"

Leonhard let out an incredulous ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠laugh. Roteren, who had kept his mouth shut until now, couldn't hide his disbelief either. It was uncanny. With every step that little golem took, the path seemed to open before them — and this was unmistakably a complicated maze.

"I-I think we really are going the right way."

"Seems so."

Erger and Leonhard gave in and began following Tapagol without complaint. Not that refusing had ever been an option, with Yujun there.

"Oh. There's another team over there."

Other players had spotted Yujun's group. They sized them up at a glance, then muttered among themselves.

"Hmm?"

"They look pretty strong. I vote we pull back."

"Our goal was player kills, wasn't it? Three hundred of them? And you want to retreat? Every second counts. We can't do that."

"Then it's decided."

The four-man team moved to attack at once. Tapagol, walking at the front, stepped forward, and the players tilted their heads.

"What is that?"

"A golem?"

"A dwarf golem? Since when do golems look like that?"

That was when it happened.

Hssss—. Shaaaaa—!

Tremendous heat burst from Tapagol's body, and then a sight unfolded that stunned everyone. A moment ago it had been no bigger than a goblin. Now its body swelled to a monstrous size — not merely large. Roughly speaking, it towered to the height of a ten-story apartment building.