Chapter 92: Golden Golem
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 92: Golden Golem
The Blacksmith didn't attack right away.
Instead, he wiped the blood dripping from his mouth and took cover.
He hid beneath a massive, jagged barricade that had risen from the floor, a product of the steel mill's structural transformation.
It was similar to how he had defended himself with a small-scale structural shift when I’d struck him with seven lightning bolts.
He was digging in for a short siege.
Why?
‘Attacking us directly is a burden for him, too.’
The cost to his vitality had been immense.
After trading blows in a gritty brawl with the Orc Fighter and taking a concentrated barrage of magic from me and Neko, even that monster was now on its last breath.
A sudden halt to the battle.
It was like a referee's timeout.
It felt as if two boxers, who had been furiously trading jabs, guards, and uppercuts just a second ago, were now locked in a clinch, waiting for the referee to break them apart.
My head, which had been running hot, began to cool.
‘The Blacksmith wants to kill both of us.’
If he charged from this distance and swung his hammer, Neko and I would be sent to the afterlife in a single blow.
But the Blacksmith would be the next to die.
If he attacked Neko, I would rain hailstones on his head and set off a dust explosion.
And vice versa.
If the Blacksmith attacked me, Neko would slam him with her psychokinetic fist and burn him with a scorching ray.
So, what was the Blacksmith preparing under that barricade in order to kill us both and survive?
Clatter.
A sound reached my ears.
I didn't have anything like sound mapping, but I could still tell what it was.
“He’s searching the corpse.”
Where he’d taken cover was the body of the Halfling Druid.
He was likely looking for a healing potion.
“He’s planning to restore his vitality and finish us off.”
“...W-what do we do?”
Trapped inside this cylinder, roughly twenty meters in diameter, was there any way for two mages to escape?
The walls the Blacksmith had created with the steel mill's structural transformation were too strong for any of us to break.
‘We have to kill the Blacksmith.’
That was the only way.
Then the structural transformation would be undone.
But how?
I quickly scanned my surroundings, searching for even the smallest hint.
1. Corpses.
Over there was the Halfling's corpse, and on our side was Ingelam's. Between them lay the remains of the brass golems—corroded, gilded, and shattered fragments. Nothing useful there now. Ingelam's magic equipment was also mostly useless here. Except for one thing.
2. The Convergence Core.
Below it, lava still bubbled in the mold. But the Convergence Core was inactive because Yernil had removed the doll.
3. The terrain's elevation.
Thanks to the two structural transformations, the inside of the cylinder was uneven, like a mountain range. In terms of elevation, our side was slightly higher.
[Turn-Based Hourglass Cooldown: 22 seconds]
“Orc.”
I called out to the Orc beyond the wall.
“Run to the production control room right now and tell them this.”
It would have been faster to wait for the hourglass's cooldown and instruct Yernil myself, but I sent the Orc Fighter to save the hourglass.
This was my final gambit.
*
A volley of arrows flew one after another, embedding themselves in the Golden Golem's chest.
But the Golden Golem didn't even flinch. And that wasn't all.
‘It’s coming into the lava!’
Yernil was horrified, seeing it for the first time.
The Golden Golem had jumped into the lava and was wading through it, splashing as it approached.
Lava splattered everywhere with each step.
‘Doesn't that monster melt in lava?’
The Golden Golem suddenly stopped and stabbed its spear deep into the lava.
Impaled on the spear's tip was a brass golem doll. The half-melted, gilded doll rose up, drenched in a massive amount of lava.
Swoosh!
The Golden Golem flung the doll at Yernil, and a wave of crimson lava flew with it, like a splash of water.
“Hah!”
Yernil leaped onto a rock formation on the opposite side.
As she rolled across the ground, the Golden Golem thrust its spear at her.
‘Reposition Sentry!’
Activating the skill just as its cooldown finished, Yernil teleported to the entrance of the production control room and breathed a sigh of relief.
“Hey! Elf!”
An unfriendly voice shot out sharply from the hallway.
“Move!”
Back Attack shoved Yernil aside and threw his dagger with all his might.
Bang!
The rogue's thrown dagger struck the Golden Golem in the forehead, knocking it down, but the golem simply lay in the lava for a moment before getting right back up.
“Ah, shit. How the hell do you kill that thing?”
Back Attack clicked his tongue as he resummoned his dagger.
“That cat mage smashed it to pieces, but it still didn't die. It just revived.”
“Did you destroy its core?” Yernil asked.
“Its core?”
“Caleb said you have to destroy a golem's core.”
“...!”
Golems have a red, gem-like core in their chests.
The Convergence Core injects magic into it, allowing it to operate.
In other words, the core is its weak point, which was why Caleb's party had always destroyed the cores of the brass golems they fought on their way here from the 4th floor.
“So you're saying that thing has a core, too?”
“Probably?”
In truth, Yernil wasn't sure either.
Because unlike the other golems, the Golden Golem's core wasn't visible on the outside of its body.
“But I can hear a sound.”
“What kind of sound?” Aimus, arriving a beat later, asked as he set down the Priest.
“A humming sound from its chest!”
The brass golems' cores also made a sound like that, like a human heartbeat.
Someone with sound mapping could hear it.
“Then let's smash its chest open and find out.”
The steel monk charged head-on at the Golden Golem as it walked out of the lava.
KABOOM!
The collision of the two heavyweights sent liquid gold spraying everywhere. Aimus, in particular, was drenched in it, but his body wasn't gilded.
But there was still a problem.
“Aimus is being pushed back!”
Its shocking physical strength overwhelmed even the strength-based monk blessed with the Power of Radiance.
The golden spear pushed Aimus's iron staff aside. Then it began to press down on Aimus, who had lost his center of gravity.
“Ugh...!”
The Golden Golem intended to knock Aimus down and kill him with its spear.
However.
“Be martyred where you stand!”
The Priest quickly cast a second blessing.
The incantation was rather grim, but the magic was a blessing that prevented the target from falling over.
Through the Priest, the blessing of the God of Fair Contracts and Transactions settled firmly in the monk's legs. It felt as if his two legs were driven into the ground like stakes. The Priest's faith seemed to support Aimus from behind.
But they were still just at a stalemate.
“We have to knock this thing down!” Aimus shouted.
Maintaining the status quo wasn't enough. They had to find a way to make the golem fall.
Only then could Smashing Gaia strike the monster's chest.
“Do something!”
Even without Caleb directing them from the side, the party was already experienced.
‘Mysterious Tumble.’
Yernil took out the scroll she had intended to use on the Barbarian here before. A magic-tipped arrow with the scroll attached flew toward the target.
From her position, Aimus and the golem were in a straight line, making a direct shot difficult, so she fired in an arc over Aimus's head.
The elf's arrows do not miss.
Twang!
Mysterious Tumble.
That magic, cast directly by the God of Wisdom, makes the target's legs give out and causes them to lose their sense of balance.
In a battle where single blows could be fatal, one slip was critical.
However...
“It resisted!” the Priest shouted. A magic scroll has a fixed casting power regardless of the user's wisdom stat, but the level difference couldn't be helped.
It failed because the level difference between Yernil and the Golden Golem was too great.
‘Retrieve Arrow!’
The moment it happened, Yernil activated a newly learned skill almost instinctively.
That way, she wouldn't have to wait for the magic tip's cooldown again.
Because she believed it would succeed if she shot again.
[Mysterious Tumble]
Normally, when a magic-tipped arrow hits its target, both the scroll and the arrow should disappear, but because the spell failed, the arrow returned to Yernil's grasp as if reversing time.
Twang!
The newly fired arrow did not fail.
The Golden Golem fell.
As if slipping on a patch of ice.
And toward the chest of the monster lying on the ground.
‘Smashing Gaia!’
The monk's immense iron staff came crashing down like a mace.
CRASH!
A large amount of liquid gold erupted in all directions.
But it still wasn't over.
Its chest was half-destroyed, but the golem's eyes still gleamed.
Aimus could see it too. Deep inside, a golden core was spinning wildly.
It wasn't red like the brass golems' cores.
The core itself was gilded.
And Yernil sharply caught the humming sound coming from it.
“Aimus!”
She jumped right off Aimus's back, spun in the air, and aimed straight down at the Golden Golem lying on the ground.
There was no time for an arcing shot.
Liquid gold was already filling the Golden Golem's chest again. The core was visible beneath it.
It was very small and hard to distinguish.
That's why Neko and Back Attack had missed it once before.
A large part of it was because they had been distracted by the Avian Rogue and the Druid at the time, with no leeway for careful observation.
But now, Yernil had a clear lock on it.
Twang! Thwang!
A three-round burst struck the Golden Golem's chest in succession.
“Too shallow!”
But surprisingly, the golem drew gold from all over its body and somehow managed to protect the core in its chest.
Yernil's arrows couldn't destroy the core.
WHAM!
The Golden Golem's kick exploded against the monk's chest.
Aimus was thrown backward by the force, and the Golden Golem steadied itself, trying to get up.
‘No!’
I can't miss this chance.
The liquid gold was already gathering to fill the monster's chest.
If we don't finish it now, it'll just drag on for much longer...
CRACK!
Suddenly, a dagger held in a reverse grip plunged down and shattered the core.
Leaping Ambush.
“Back Attack!” Aimus screamed.
Because unlike Aimus, who was protected by an electrostatic coat, Back Attack was not.
“It was fucking nothing...”
Back Attack's body turned to gold and hardened.
“...at all.”
“You crazy bastard!” Yernil jumped in shock.
“Everyone, back away!”
The Priest rushed over, stopping Yernil from running toward Back Attack.
“Even though the Golden Golem is dead, the liquid gold is still active, so be careful not to step on it!”
The Priest pulled out Back Attack, who had become a golden statue.
“I'll start removing the gilding and healing him now. You two, don't worry about us and go help Caleb and Constable Neko!”
“...Tch.”
Aimus gritted his teeth and moved.
“Understood. Let's go, Yernil!”
“...”
“Yernil?”
Yernil was distracted by something else.
When Caleb was mentioned, she had reflexively looked over.
At the monitor screen in the production control room.
“What the...”
It looked like a circular arena, sealed off on all sides.
In that place with no way out, Caleb and Neko were left alone.
With no frontline.
With the Blacksmith.
“What... why...?”
She hadn't noticed at all while fighting the Golden Golem. How long had they been in that situation?
Suddenly, a terrible sense of foreboding crushed down on her.
Yernil, too, had seen much of the Blacksmith's power.
No matter how good Caleb was, there was no way two mages could take that thing down.
“Why are they in that situation?”
She couldn't understand the situation itself.
“Everyone!”
Someone shouted from the hallway, completely out of breath.
It was the Orc Fighter who had stayed to fight on Caleb's side.
The message he delivered was filled with madness.
“He says to push the production settings box into the lava!”
What in the world did that mean?
Aimus, Yernil, and the Priest all stared wide-eyed at the shocking command.
“So the lava will pour through the Convergence Core's pipes!”
That wizard planned to fill the inside of that cylinder with lava.