Golems were beings frequently encountered in underground ruins. According to legend, they were magical lifeforms created by an ancient, powerful magical empire—though most people considered them not true magical lifeforms, but rather highly sophisticated constructs of magical engineering.
Setting aside what golems actually were, one thing was certain: they were troublesome things to deal with.
According to scholarly classifications, they were divided into two main categories: utility models and military models.
Utility models could handle a variety of tasks, including guarding, hauling, construction, and the like, with their strength being D-Class at the very least. Military models, as the name implied, were built for combat, and their baseline strength was at least C-Class...
Naturally, the current Shulim was no match for a military-model golem, so the one standing before her was a D-Class utility-model stone golem.
That being said, even the weakest golem was nothing an ordinary D-Class monster could compare to. In dungeon ruins, golems were among the opponents adventurers were least willing to face, because...
“【ᚷᚲᚠᛏᛗᛜᚢᚪᛖᛡᛞᚠᛟᛃᛜᛃᛏᚠᛞᚲᛜᚹᛚᛖᛗᛜᛖᛗᛃᛞᛋ】”
“Fireball!”
The blazing fireball slammed violently into the golem's body. Yet once the flames cleared, aside from leaving a few scorch marks on its surface, it had done nothing else.
The golem continued toward Shulim without slowing down in the slightest.
“【ᛒᚠᛏᛋᛜᚻᚠᛏᛖᛡᛣᛏᚠᚳᛜᛖᛄᚠᚳᛜᛓᚠᛃᛖᛚᛜᛓᛃᚱᛗ】”
“Swiftness!”
“【ᛋᚷᚺᛜᛈᚠᛞᛃᛡᚪᛚᛏᛗᚠᚺᛜᛖᛄᚠᚳᛜᛃᚾᚪ】”
“Reinforce!”
Relying on Wind magic to lighten her body and Reinforce to boost her speed, Shulim quickly pulled open the distance between herself and the golem.
Fortunately, although the golem before her was frustratingly sturdy, its bulky size made its movements rather sluggish. Furthermore, this was not a cramped dungeon; Shulim was able to keep herself at a safe distance at all times.
Of course, this was also because the D-Class golem lacked any ranged attacks, making it little more than a tough moving target, which allowed Shulim to handle the situation with relative composure.
“Fireball is no good...? Then, Water Arrow!”
A Water Arrow shot out at high speed, streaking straight for the golem's head.
“Beep beep beep...”
The golem crossed its two stone arms before its chest, blocking the Water Arrow's impact.
“【ᚷᚲᛏᛓᛖᛚᛜᚻᚠᛏᛖᛡᛣᛏᚠᚳᛜᚾᛃᚲᛟᛖᛡᛓᛏᚠᚱᛜᚾᛟᚲᚠᛚᛜᛖᛗᛃᛞᛋ】”
“Wind Blade!”
The emerald wind blade struck the golem's body, leaving behind only a modest nick.
“This doesn't work either...?”
Shulim circled around while maintaining a safe distance, pondering her options.
“Light and Dark magic lack offensive spells, so they're of no use here. Non-Elemental is almost exclusively for close combat, but fighting a golem in melee is definitely a terrible idea, so that won't work either...”
Thud!
A tree snapped directly under the golem's charge. Seemingly oblivious to the fact that it had no chance of catching Shulim, the golem relentlessly pursued her in a straight line.
Shulim glanced around; quite a few trees had already been snapped in the exact same manner.
“No, I can't keep stringing it along like this. Golems have no concept of stamina and never tire. Dragging this out will only exhaust my stamina first.”
With that thought, Shulim halted her steps.
“【ᚷᚲᚠᛏᛗᛜᛏᚠᚪᛡᛃᛋקיᛚᚺᛜᛖᚾהᛤᛜᛣᛃᛁᛚᚠᛄᛜᛏᛃᛖᛒᛡᛏᚠᚪ】”
“Flash!”
A dazzling burst of light flared out, aimed straight at the sphere on the golem's head.
With its vision temporarily disrupted by the light, the golem suddenly lost its target and ground to a halt. The sphere whirled frantically as it tried to relocate its quarry.
Seizing this chance, Shulim quickly darted behind a large tree, vanishing entirely from the golem's line of sight.
Right after that, she cast another spell.
“【ᛒᚷᛈᛜᛖᛗᛞᚪᛡᛖᛞᛃᚺיᛤᛜᛣᚢᛜᛣᛃᛈיᛄᚠᛗᛜᛓᚠᛁוטᛗᛓᛖᛡᛓᚠᛏוᛒ】”
“Pitfall!”
Having halted after losing its target, the golem took no evasive action even as the ground abruptly caved in beneath it, tumbling directly into the pit.
Only when the pit's depth exceeded the golem's height did Shulim emerge again.
“Intruder detected, initiating purge!”
The glowing sphere on the golem's head locked onto Shulim once more.
However...
Bang! Bang! Bang...
The moment the golem attempted to move, it merely slammed against the walls of the pit, leaving it completely immobilized.
“Against foes that lack intelligence, this trick really works wonders.”
Looking down at the obstinate golem incessantly bashing against the pit walls, Shulim raised the Treant Wand in her hand.
“Let's see just how much you can endure...”
“Fireball!”
“Rock Bullet!”
“Wind Blade!”
“Water Arrow!”
“...”
A barrage of spells rained down. Because the golem possessed extremely high resistance to both magic and physical impacts, each spell dealt minimal damage on its own. Yet as the damage accumulated, the golem eventually entered an overloaded state. Its movements grew stiffer and stiffer until, finally, a Rock Bullet shattered the metallic sphere on its head, rendering it completely paralyzed.
Confirming that the golem had indeed ceased functioning, Shulim breathed a sigh of relief.
To be frank, this golem wasn't a particularly difficult opponent to handle since it posed little real threat to her, but taking it down had proven unprecedentedly arduous.
Defensive capabilities like this probably surpassed the vast majority of C-Class monsters...
“My, my, to think you'd bring down the golem so smoothly! It seems the wand really does provide quite a boost~!”
Semilis popped out from who-knew-where, even though there had been no sign of her whatsoever during the battle just moments ago.
“Since it was so easy, a second wave shouldn't be any problem, right~?”
Where on earth did you get the idea that this was easy? And of course there was more to come...
Clack! Clack! Clack...
Just as Shulim was lamenting to herself, the familiar clatter echoed from all around.
Wait, all around?
Shulim immediately surveyed her surroundings. Sure enough, multiple golems emerged from different directions.
“...”
“Hey, Semilis!”
Looking back, the fairy was already nowhere to be seen.
“Intruder detected, initiating purge!”
“Intruder detected, initiating purge!”
“Intruder detected...”
Clearly, now was not the time to complain about Semilis. One after another, the stone golems were already charging forward, raising stone arms thicker than Shulim's waist.
“No choice but to fight...”
Shulim exhaled slowly, her gaze turning sharp.
“【ᛋᚷᚺᛜᛈᚠᛞᛃᛡᚪᛚᛏᛗᚠᚺᛜᛖᛄᚠᚳᛜᛃᚾᚪ】”
“Reinforce—!”
...
Half an hour later.
“Yo~, still alive, Shulim?”
Semilis squatted beside Shulim, poking her cheek with a finger.
Lying on the ground in utter exhaustion, Shulim dearly wanted to stop her, but lacked even an ounce of strength.
Everything she had just endured remained deeply etched in her mind; never before had death felt so close.
Rewinding to half an hour earlier, five whole golems had surrounded Shulim the moment they appeared, leaving her with no opportunity to flee and forcing her to scramble into combat.
The only saving grace was that duration-based spells like Reinforce and Swiftness would not dissipate once cast, so long as the mana supply was maintained.
That was how Shulim had managed to stay alive under the siege of five golems, relying on constant footwork and positioning.
Even so, hearing the rush of wind as those rock-hewn arms whizzed past her ears time and time again, Shulim's heart had been lodged in her throat.
Without question, Shulim was certain that if even a single blow landed, her body would be thoroughly mangled. With bad luck, being flattened into a pancake wouldn't be out of the question—and whether Semilis could save her at that point was anyone's guess...
If she died on the spot, not even Semilis would be able to resurrect her.
Just as Shulim practically envisioned the scene of her own demise, the Hayeral Swordsmanship she had practiced for so long displayed its true power.
Shulim had almost forgotten that she was not purely a mage; if anything, she was every bit a swordsman.
A swordsman's intuition not only allowed her to nimbly dodge the relentless barrage of lethal close-range strikes, but also led her to discover the golems' weakness...
These golems seemed to have no capacity for teamwork whatsoever.
Realizing that the golems frequently struck one another while trying to hit her as she dodged, Shulim found a path to victory.
“In that case...”
After dodging yet another heavy punch, Shulim did not retreat to safety. Instead, she leapt straight toward the golem that had just attacked, boldly springing onto its shoulder before it could ready its next blow.
Then, at the final moment as she sensed the incoming rush of wind from behind about to connect, Shulim leapt away.
It was an exceptionally daring gamble; the slightest misstep would have cost her life on the spot. Yet the payoff was immediate.
The charged attack meant for the intruder smashed squarely into its companion. The struck golem toppled backward, crashing heavily onto the ground, while the arm that took the direct hit cracked extensively.
Sentient beings might well have turned on each other in such a situation, but golems were constructs that only executed their programmed commands to the letter. They did not even comprehend that striking an ally was an error.
The golem that had struck its companion didn't spare a single glance at the fallen construct. Without pausing for an instant, it pivoted and resumed its pursuit of Shulim. Meanwhile, the downed golem seemed equally unaware that it had been attacked by friendly fire; it merely scrambled to pick itself back up, its gaze locked onto Shulim the entire time.
Rate on N.U.
