“Goooooooooooon!”
Karnaghtul, the familiar of the mage Isam, had dashed forward with a resounding roar befitting a formidable lesser dragon. Its destination was an opponent who bore a resemblance to Karnaghtul himself yet appeared somewhat frail in appearance.
Karl was still a child and did not grasp that the true identity of the enemy was not a real dragon but rather a dragon-shaped golem. However, who the enemy was did not matter to him. What mattered was that he had been told by his beloved master to defeat that enemy.
“Eliminate!”
When the dragon-shaped golem opened its mouth, it spewed flames from within, using the same intricate mechanism as the mage golem’s staff that was embedded in its throat.
“Gruaaaa!”
If Isam and his companions, who had understood the jammer field’s effect, had been here, they might have been as astonished as when the mage golem had used it before. However, despite his large size, Karl was still a child and did not comprehend it.
That’s why he could keep moving forward without flinching even as he bathed in flames. If it were a genuine [Dragon’s Breath], that might be a different story, but the flames conjured by the golem were insufficient to halt Karl’s advance. The distance between them diminished in a matter of seconds, and Karl rammed into the golem with great force.
“Goooooooo!”
“Eliminate!”
After the collision, Karl pounced on the dragon-shaped golem and sank his fangs into its neck. He vigorously shook the neck, attempting to snap the cervical spine. This was a movement often seen in carnivores during hunts.
“???”
However, he couldn’t suppress his bewilderment. First, the sensation when he bit into it was odd. It was definitely not like the skin of any prey he had ever consumed. The taste on his tongue was strange, and the closest comparison he could make was to the surface of some fish he had taken a bite of earlier, hoping to receive praise from Isam. For Karl, who had thought of the golem as one of his own kind based on appearance, this sensation was nothing but strange.
And the feedback when he shook the neck was also strange. It felt odd because he couldn’t sense any core, or bones, for that matter, in this creature’s neck, something that should be present in any being. A bizarre internal structure devoid of skin and bones, unlike any living creature. What on earth was he fighting against? he wondered.
“Eliminate!”
“Gah!”
Confusion gave way to growing turmoil within Karl as the golem relentlessly attacked, showing no restraint or mercy. While Karl still clung to its neck, dazed and bewildered, the dragon-shaped golem raked Karl’s torso with sharp claws.
The claws of the dragon-shaped golem were made of the same material as its surface armor, similar to the knight golem’s armor and the shield warrior golem’s shields. Consequently, they succeeded in shattering Karl’s sturdy scales and cutting through to the flesh beneath.
“Grrrrrr!”
However, Karl was no weakling who would release his grip just by taking damage. Moreover, his skill, [Regeneration] allowed him to ignore anything less than a mere scratch. Instead, Karl retaliated in his fury with his own claws.
Yet, even with the strength of a dragon and sharp claws, he couldn’t tear through the golem’s armor. If Jirgoro’s fists and Genjuro’s slashes barely left a scratch, Karl, who was still an immature dragon, was clearly lacking in power.
“Grroooow!”
Nevertheless, Karl refused to give up. In fact, his anger at the lack of progress fueled his rampage. He held onto his bite with unrelenting force, swung his neck in various directions, and repeatedly slashed with his claws.
“Eliminate!”
The dragon-shaped golem wasn’t just on the receiving end of Karl’s assault. It continued to counterattack with its claws and tried to twist away from Karl’s jaws. The golem, impervious to pain or any sensation, kept resisting monotonously while spitting out the same sound over and over again.
“Grraa!”
The struggle persisted for a while, but finally, a turning point arrived. Karl, using only the strength of his neck, lifted the golem and then forcefully threw it.
The golem crashed onto the ground from behind. If it had been a real dragon, its lungs might have been deflated, causing breathing difficulties from the impact. However, the opponent was an artificial golem. It wasn’t immobilized by this level of impact; it still struggled to break free from Karl’s jaws, which continued to bite into its throat.
“Pei!”
Unexpectedly, Karl released his grip at this point. While he had shown no signs of letting go before, for some reason, he easily released the restraint now.
Why did he release the golem at this moment? If it had been a perceptive, battle-hardened creature, it would have clumsily crawled away from the scene, even if it meant crawling. However, the adversary was a golem. It lacked the capability for on-the-fly judgment and, as a result, made the worst choice by attempting to rise right there.
“Gruoaaaaah!”
Immediately after letting go, Karl jumped into the air and, in mid-air, executed a forward somersault, slamming his tail with momentum and his weight behind it. The tail strike, which had intimidated even the Tarrasque monster when Karl was still a juvenile dragon, had grown even more formidable now that he had become a lesser dragon. Karl’s tail, with its blade-like tip, struck the back of the dragon-shaped golem.
Mekyobegigi!!
A piercing metallic sound, reminiscent of earsplitting screeches, reverberated throughout the square. It appeared that no matter how sturdy its armor was, it couldn’t withstand Karl’s most powerful physical attack. Karl’s tail had deeply embedded itself at the base of the golem’s wings.
“E… Eli…”
The dragon-shaped golem, whose internal circuits were damaged by the overwhelmingly heavy blow, convulsed and emitted a garbled voice, much like the dual-wielding golem that Ruby had battled earlier. Annoyed by this, Karl jumped once again and, just like before, ruthlessly slammed his tail. But this time, his target was not the golem’s back but its head.
Bikiki…boom!
As if it were in a hydraulic press, Karl’s tail crushed the dragon-shaped golem’s head, reaching halfway down its neck. And then that part exploded. The cause was the destruction of the mechanism that was embedded in its head, which produced flames.
“GUOOOOOOOOOh!”
Unaware of the details, Karl let out a victorious roar. The enemy hadn’t been particularly strong, but Karl still seemed proud of having carried out his beloved master’s command. For several minutes, until the excitement subsided, Karl continued to roar triumphantly, standing over the remains of the dragon-shaped golem.
◆◇◆◇◆◇
“Geh! Karl has finished his fight too!”
“T-They’re all too quick with it!”
As we listened to Karl’s victorious roar, Iris and I fought against what seemed to be the six remaining security golems…even as we panted heavily.
Although their appearance and attack methods were the same as the α and β-type security golems, there was a reason why I referred to them as “seemed to be.”
“Ugh! They’re just too damn tough!”
I tried to scratch the surface of the approaching β-type golem with my scythe, but it barely left a scratch. Yes, the reason lay in the remarkable difference in their armor toughness.
The security golems we had encountered so far were covered in nothing more than worn-out, simple iron armor, easily destroyed with a swing of my scythe, or in other words, mere scrap metal. But these were different. It was evident that they were made of a special kind of metal, and it wasn’t showing signs of aging!
“Staff! Talismans! And then…nuugh!”
I battered the β-type golem, wounded by my scythe, with my staff, causing it to crash down. Then, I hurled several talismans at it before thrusting through its armor with the tip of my tail. Somehow, I was able to penetrate the armor of the golem in this manner.
How was it possible to accomplish with my tail what was impossible with the scythe, a weapon designed for the task? The secret lay not in my tail per se but in the spike core of the Tarrasque I had used on the tip of my tail. The Tarrasque regenerated its spikes repeatedly using this core, and inheriting this property allowed me to extend spike-like protrusions from the tip of my tail by expending magic power.
In this manner, I forcibly destroyed the golem’s armor with the increased mass of spikes on my tail. However, there was a significant issue with this approach.
“Oh, it’s so heavy!”
The mass required to breach the golem’s armor, as I casually put it, naturally amounted to a considerable weight. It was just about the maximum I could lift with my strength. Therefore, swinging my tail each time was quite a struggle.
“Ugh, is it coming off already?”
I quickly used a new talisman on myself. The one I used contained the Light Armor spell. Huh? Wondering why I was resorting to defensive magic? Well, right now, I was amidst a storm of bullets!
“Eliminate!”
The golems weren’t the only ones taking a beating. Even now, they were raining bullets down on Iris and me. With her sturdy Roper body, Iris could handle it, but as for me, with my frail bony frame, a bullet hitting me would mean significant damage.
However, avoiding the ceaseless barrage of bullets was impossible for me. That’s why I was using the talisman with the Light Armor spell inscribed on it.
“Eeiiiy!”
Meanwhile, Iris was pummeling the golems with her wooden hammer and axe. She was using weapons of decent weight, so she didn’t seem to be struggling as much as I was. It looked like she just destroyed one of the α-type golems!
“Four… left! Fnuuaaah!”
I gathered my strength and raised my tail before striking the nearest α-type golem sideways and sending it flying. The armor crumpled from the tip of my tail, and I could feel the sensation of its interior collapsing. Oh, there’s another β-type approaching from behind? Well, I won’t fall for that!
“Hmph!”
I swung my scythe upward in a sweeping motion, launching the β-type into the air. I couldn’t cut through its armor, but the impact caused it to spin in mid-air and inadvertently collide with the last remaining α-type golem.
“This should…”
“Finish it!”
My tail and Iris’s axe descended almost simultaneously. My tail pierced through the β-type and into the midsection of the α-type, while Iris’s axe cleaved the α-type in two, embedding itself into the wings of the β-type. With the last two golems silenced, that meant…
“Sigh… F-finally ended.”
“I’m tired.”
I sank to my knees right there, exhaling deeply. Speaking from a game perspective, there’s no fatigue for an undead like me. However, mental exhaustion inevitably builds up. After all, despite the exterior being undead, the core is that of a real human.
“Ooh, good job.”
The one who said that as he approached me was a Jigoro holding a rod of some kind. It seemed that he had destroyed the device that had been deploying the field jammer.
“That was quite a brute force battle.”
“…Well, my scythe literally couldn’t cut through, so there wasn’t much choice.”
Jigoro, please refrain from giving your overall assessment right off the bat. After all, I’m not particularly skilled in close combat. Plus, there are issues with my race and job. It seems that the experience points needed for my [Scythe Mastery] skill to level up are higher than usual. But then again, I am a mage, so is it to be expected?
“But it was unusually tough. There must be some secret. Should I use [Appraisal]?”
I picked up the nearest β-type golem and used [Appraisal] on it.
――――――――――
Elimination Golem β Model – Quality: Scrap, Rarity: C (Common)
A mass-produced golem developed for the purpose of eliminating invading monsters or armed terrorists. It boasts higher specifications in every aspect compared to security models.
It’s heavily damaged and won’t move in its current state.
――――――――――
E-Elimination, huh? That must be pretty strong. Gives you the chills with all that killing intent, doesn’t it?
Jokes aside, upon further investigation, it turned out that even the α-type golems were made for elimination, not security. I wondered if the γ-type golems were also intended for the same purpose, but there was a slight difference.
――――――――――
Elimination golem γ Model (Knight Type) – Quality: Scrap, Rarity: R (Rare)
A golem developed for the purpose of eliminating invading monsters or armed terrorists. It possesses higher specifications in every aspect compared to the mass-produced models.
Normally, it camouflages itself as an object and only activates when the facility faces a significant threat.
The inside parts are heavily damaged, and it won’t move in its current state.
――――――――――
…Could it be that the creatures ahead of us are going to be all γ-type golems? This adventure is shaping up to be quite intense.
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