Chapter 29
Chapter 29
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 29
Chapter Title: The Weapon Golem
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The Chinese hunters were exiled.
Only the two S-ranks were officially exiled, but the rest of the Chinese hunters ended up following Wang Jin-chun and E Suo-lin.
With the entrance sealed, they had no choice but to wait until the raid was over.
To simply wait like a defeated army was an even greater humiliation for them.
Meanwhile, the hunters who were not involved with them soon received their orders and split into three groups to advance.
—The boss raid will now commence.
The raid had entered its final stage.
“They'll never succeed. They'll come crawling back to us in the end.”
Wang Jin-chun ground his teeth as he watched the departing hunters.
Wang-sik was observing the final chamber.
“So we did have to clear all three paths after all.”
When they first arrived, the magic circle on the floor hadn't activated. He had turned back to confirm this, but then the Chinese contingent had caused trouble.
As expected, once the three passages were cleared, a magic circle appeared in the final area.
The space where the magic circle was drawn was a vast plaza, similar in size to the entrance.
“Do you know what it is?”
Wang-sik shook his head at Gregory's question.
He had examined the magic circle carefully, but he couldn't tell what kind of monster would emerge. He could only surmise from the sheer size of the circle filling the plaza that it would be no ordinary foe.
“Position the recon teams.”
“What are you planning to do?”
“I'll go in first.”
“Don't be ridiculous! An S-rank boss monster will appear.”
Gregory could also feel how powerful the magic circle's energy was.
“Even so, it's just another mob.”
Wang-sik said as he got to his feet.
“I'll buy as much time as I can. Figure out the monster in the meantime. You'll have to decide how we attack.”
Shield in hand, Wang-sik placed a hand on Gregory's shoulder and said one last thing.
“I'm counting on you, Commander.”
Having handed over command, Wang-sik entered the plaza purely as a tanker.
Some 800 Awakened held their breath, watching Wang-sik step in alone.
*Could I do that if I were in his shoes?*
*What is he fighting for? He's not even a Russian hunter.*
*Does he feel no fear?*
At first, it was disbelief.
But as Wang-sik stood confidently in the center of the magic circle, that disbelief turned to admiration.
*So that's what a tanker is.*
Admiration soon gave way to concern. And the final emotion was resolve.
*We have to keep him alive.*
*Please, hold on. I'll bet my life on it too.*
Just as fighting spirit began to fill the eyes of the Awakened, light started pouring from the magic circle.
*Whaaaaaam!*
With a tremor like an earthquake, one of the plaza's walls came crashing down.
Kicking aside the debris of the collapsed wall, a giant nearly ten meters tall appeared.
“A golem?”
A ten-meter golem wasn't the worst-case scenario, actually. The problem was its form.
“What... is that?”
The ten-meter giant's body was composed of a tremendous number of weapons: swords, axes, spears, bows, and more.
It was a type even Wang-sik had never seen before.
From twenty meters away, the golem swung its arm.
*First, I'll block.*
Even though its fist couldn't reach him, Wang-sik raised his shield.
At the same time, the weapons that formed the golem's arm flew toward Wang-sik in unison.
Hundreds of weapons battered his shield, the force of the assault pushing Wang-sik back several steps. If he hadn't instinctively raised his shield, the impact would have been devastating.
“Its whole body is literally a weapon.”
The weapons that had been blocked by his shield or had stuck into the ground soon returned to the golem, reforming its arm.
Wang-sik readjusted his grip on the shield and moved.
He was trying to distance himself from where his allies were waiting.
Pulse of Hatred.
A giant heart appeared on the high ceiling.
With that, Wang-sik drew its attention, changing his distance and direction several times.
The golem's attacks were simple.
It had two patterns: launching parts of its body from a distance, and attacking with its fists or feet up close. The problem was that the sheer power of its attacks was beyond common sense, making them difficult to block.
“I'm still fine.”
Wang-sik said, rolling his stiff shoulders.
Its pattern was becoming predictable, but he had a feeling it still had a couple more tricks up its sleeve. He thought it would be best to confirm that before attacking, but apparently, Gregory thought otherwise.
The Russian hunters burst out from the passage.
In that instant, the golem stopped moving.
“Get back!”
At the same time as Wang-sik's shout, all the weapons making up the golem shot out at incredible speed.
Wang-sik blocked the weapons flying at him and quickly assessed the situation. Fortunately, since they had emerged in formation with the tankers at the front, they seemed to have withstood the attack.
But they were not in good shape.
“Retreat!”
As if his wish had been heard, they quickly returned to the passage.
In truth, the passage wasn't completely safe either.
The golem's range wasn't limited to the plaza. Nevertheless, the passage was crucial. It at least minimized the area the tankers had to defend.
“Brown Bear, are you okay?”
Brown Bear, who had been the first to enter, was covered in cuts. The injury on his calf was particularly severe; a large gash had torn through his armor, exposing the muscle beneath.
“This? It's just a scratch.”
“Shut up. Unless you never want to walk again.”
Sarah began healing Brown Bear and two other tankers. A single attack from the golem had left three A-rank tankers in tatters.
“Gregory.”
Gregory, who was uninjured thanks to the tankers' sacrifice, watched the battlefield without blinking. The weapons that had been embedded in the walls were already returning to form the golem's body.
“There's a sword.”
A few other hunters besides Gregory had seen it too.
In the moment of the area-of-effect attack, a single sword had been floating serenely in the center of the golem's body.
That had to be the golem's core.
Golems have a core that acts as a heart, and if it's destroyed, they can no longer move.
“So we just need to destroy that...”
The attack they had just witnessed was so destructive that even the tankers struggled to endure it. This meant they would have to attack at the right moment, accepting the tankers' sacrifice as a given.
Just then, Min Ha-na came up from behind and handed Gregory a sword.
“What is this?”
“I attacked, but it was blocked. This is the sword that blocked my attack.”
“You attacked in that brief moment?”
Min Ha-na had charged in with the Russian tankers. And yet, she had managed to counterattack in that short window.
It was astounding, but there was no time to express it.
“So it sheds its skin when it takes damage.”
“Yes, which means attacking is the best way to create an opening.”
“Thank you. Thanks to you, I see a path forward. Though it's still a direct assault.”
“If you've figured it out, let's start right away. We can't just leave the Vice-Commander out there like that.”
“I know.”
Min Ha-na wasn't the only one who was anxious. Gregory was just as worried about Wang-sik as she was.
“Mages, archers, get ready.”
Gregory quickly issued his orders.
*Boom! Boom! Boom!*
The golem was still pummeling Wang-sik.
It had already attacked dozens of times, but Wang-sik's shield remained intact.
To the golem, that was the greatest provocation.
A tiny creature that would not fall.
The golem was enraged. The more furious it became, the simpler its attacks grew, yet the small human defiantly blocked them with his shield instead of dodging. One recent attack had been powerful enough to shatter the marble floor and bury him up to his knees, but the human had immediately pulled himself out and raised his shield again.
“Is that all you've got, weakling?”
*Guooooo!*
The golem roared in fury and spread its body wide.
Then, all the weapons that formed its body shot up into the sky like a fountain, before raining down on Wang-sik in neat rows like streams of water.
“What a nasty temper.”
Holy Fence.
This was not an attack he could block with his shield alone.
Wang-sik raised a Holy Fence to divert the coming wave of weapons. The few weapons that managed to pierce the fence were batted away with his shield.
At that moment, hundreds of attacks flew toward the golem.
*Kwakwakwang!*
It was a strike that landed the very instant the golem had exposed its core to attack Wang-sik.
*Kraaaa!*
The giant let out a monstrous scream as the weapons blocked by the Holy Fence returned to their positions. However, hundreds of other weapons failed to return and lay scattered on the floor.
*They found a way.*
But that didn't make him hopeful.
A few hundred scattered weapons seemed to have little effect on the golem.
“Don't worry. I'll hold out until the end.”
Now that they knew the method, it all depended on how long he could last.
But then, the golem looked toward the direction of the attack.
“I'm a bit possessive. You shouldn't be looking over there.”
Wang-sik threw a chain at the golem. The chain caught on an axe protruding from the golem's knee.
The golem's gaze returned to Wang-sik. In that time, the Awakened had retreated into the passage and begun to assume defensive stances.
The golem attacked, and the Awakened followed with their own assault.
Wang-sik endured, and the golem was consumed by rage. Gregory's timing for ordering attacks was so exquisite that the golem sometimes missed its chance to strike back.
But after about five minutes, Gregory realized they had a serious problem.
“This isn't working.”
They had dismantled over five thousand weapons, but the golem hadn't exposed its core since the first attack. Moreover, mana was slowly beginning to return to the dismantled weapons. Once their mana was fully replenished, they might rejoin the golem.
Most importantly, there was a change in Wang-sik's defense.
Where he had been pushed back one step, it was now two. The time it took for him to recover his balance was also getting longer.
*It's a miracle he's lasted this long.*
Gregory knew.
It was only because it was Wang-sik that he had endured. But even he was slowly reaching his limit.
*I have to find a way.*
They had to end this now, while Wang-sik was still holding on. If he fell, they would lose their chance entirely.
“How many tankers are still mobile?”
“About forty, sir!”
Gregory made his decision.
“Get twenty ready. You need to spread out as much as possible to make it use that area attack again. Don't be reckless; fall back if you feel you're in danger. The next twenty will provide immediate backup.”
As Gregory commanded, the tankers prepared to enter.
“What are you going to do?”
Sarah asked with a worried expression.
“Sarah, I need your love.”
Gregory raised his weapon.
It was the two-handed sword that had earned him the name Janus.
A red aura, devoid of any pattern, emanated from the hilt and enveloped the entire blade. At the same time, a red light appeared in Gregory's pupils.
He was drawing out all of his power.
“Don't die.”
“Of course.”
Sarah embraced Gregory. Then, a white light burst forth like droplets of water and transferred to him.
Shielded, Gregory immediately gave the command.
“Advance!”
The tankers rushed out and scattered in all directions. But Gregory, who was not a tanker, also charged in.
With enemies appearing from all sides, the golem once again launched its area-of-effect attack. The tankers raised their shields, aided by the healers who had advanced with them.
Hundreds of attacks poured into the center of the formation.
The sword flashed and wavered several times.
Gregory was running toward that center. The shield Sarah had given him shattered after taking only three hits from the weapons that filled his vision.
*Tsk!*
A sword grazed his forearm, and an axe sliced halfway through his thigh.
*Thwack!*
An arrow lodged itself in his side.
Still, Gregory did not stop. Just as he thought he had made it through, something dug into his shoulder.
An axe had shattered his shoulder bone and embedded itself in his body.
Gregory lost his balance and staggered. But he mustered his last ounce of strength and kicked off the ground.
As he leaped into the air, he saw the serenely floating sword.
A single sword radiating a malevolent aura.
“For Russia!”
His bastard sword struck the golem's core.