Ch.135Golem (12)

Llewellyn’s heart pounded violently.

The moment he gazed at that golem, his heart, which had been quiet for a while, began to race.

Unknown to Llewellyn, his heart had been faithfully replenishing the divine power it had consumed.

By the time he regained his senses, divine power was spreading throughout his body from his heart.

The power to manipulate reality, to go against the flow, to defeat something even greater.

The power to handle fate. It seeped into Llewellyn’s brain.

Just as a human in crisis makes their heart pound in fear, and the blood thus supplied awakens the brain.

Llewellyn’s brain, too, heated up with divine power and began to read fate. Thus, Llewellyn quickly processed information he would normally never have known.

Elise, collapsed and dead.

Despite being a shapeshifter, she died instantly without regenerating. A single blow. With her head gone, unless she was a high-ranking shapeshifter, death was inevitable.

But did that prove Elise’s level was low? No. That couldn’t be.

It proved that something was imbued in that attack. The moment Llewellyn’s gaze met the golem’s mineral-like crystal eyes, he knew more than he normally would have.

That single strike.

It was an attack aimed at him.

It was a strike delivered with the knowledge that whoever opened the coffin would be an “Immortal.”

It knew Llewellyn’s weakness.

That’s why it aimed straight for the head to kill Llewellyn in one blow.

Losing the head, losing the neck. It understood well that they were essentially the same. It was the knowledge of someone who knew exactly what phenomenon would kill Llewellyn.

As a result, Elise died.

Looking at the motionless corpse, Llewellyn recalled the shapeshifter he had met not long ago.

Despite claiming it was due to abilities given by “Father,” she had been kind to him.

Although their first meeting involved throwing punches and trying to kill each other, it wasn’t like that afterward.

Perhaps because death had receded, Llewellyn realized that the memory of her kindness was more vivid than the fact that she had tried to kill him.

The taste of candy still lingered in his mouth. The candy she said she ate during river crossings.

That tangy taste made Llewellyn’s heart pound roughly.

[Mourning]

[Remaining Duration: 60 seconds]

[Temporary Health: 10]

That was mourning. The heart that grieves and honors another’s death.

It coursed through every corner of Llewellyn’s vessels, becoming strength, turning his limitless lifespan into vitality without consumption.

With accelerated cognition, he rolled his eyes. At the edge of his vision were Elimul and the golem.

The golem, displaying clear hatred toward Llewellyn, raised its clenched fist.

It swung. The target was Elimul.

The moment Llewellyn’s gaze reached Elimul, his divine power revealed a different answer.

Information he couldn’t normally know flooded his mind.

The foundation of this ability is command. It makes one willingly accept death and eagerly burn their life in service.

It’s a race made for that purpose, with abilities designed for that purpose.

The moment he realized this, a surge of revulsion and nausea rose within Llewellyn.

It was disgusting.

“Elimul!”

As he shouted, the fist accelerated. Elimul didn’t see it. He turned his head because Llewellyn called his name.

Facing Elimul who was looking at him, Llewellyn knew he was the only one who could act.

“Run away!”

Elimul’s body moved. With a swift acceleration, he dodged the trajectory of the fist. Kwak! Even though it just grazed him, Elimul’s ear was completely torn off.

“Ugh…?!”

The golem looked at Elimul, who tumbled to the ground in confusion, and at Llewellyn.

And behind the golem, Lorian accelerated, spraying a blood-red mist.

Her beheading sword drew a red trajectory, and the golem’s body turned with a creak and engaged.

CLAAAAAAAAANG!

A thunderous sound echoed as if to bring down the entire cave. Not once, but dozens of times, they collided endlessly even as Llewellyn watched.

Like machines meshing together, they repeatedly collided and separated with a buzzing sound.

The blood-red marks and the bronze-colored violence rushing against each other sent sparks flying haphazardly, and one side of the darkened cave lit up brightly.

Then came the sound of dripping blood.

Beyond the red trajectory, Lorian’s face contorted. Somehow, a chunk of the blood armor surrounding her body had been torn away.

“Llewellyn—!”

At her shout, Llewellyn moved reflexively.

The magic surrounding his ring spread out.

Leaving behind Elimul, who was blindly following the order to flee, and the hesitation that lingered at the moment of Elise’s death.

The spreading magic enveloped Llewellyn, taking clear form over his cloak and gambeson.

There was no sound or sign. With black armor suddenly appearing around his body, Llewellyn faced the golem as a black knight.

KWAAAAAAAAAANG!

A rounded space and an extended fist. He grabbed the fist to stop it, and the crystal eyeballs moved with a creak to look at Llewellyn.

There were no words. There was no room to speak or exchange words.

In the extremely brief standoff, the golem met Llewellyn’s eyes and simply displayed clear hatred.

To this, Llewellyn’s divine power whispered.

That its rank was the same as his. So devour it.

A chill ran down Llewellyn’s spine. Amid the fierce collision where even sound was erased, two whispers, clear as could be, lingered in both of Llewellyn’s ears.

They were both saying the same thing. Take my hand. It was constant and unwavering.

The only difference was the change in the being called “Father,” who subtly acted as if he was light and Netel was darkness, as if he was hope and Netel was despair.

Now Llewellyn couldn’t distinguish which was Mother and which was Father.

The difference was in the stickiness. One tried to seep into Llewellyn’s mind like a viscous swamp.

Gritting his teeth, Llewellyn’s body moved.

Kicking away the whisper that clung like a swamp, ignoring the sweet temptation whispering in his ear.

Llewellyn’s body rotated.

With both legs raised, the anti-magic power that consumed Llewellyn’s infinite lifespan created repulsion through friction with magic, and using that repulsion to support his body, he swung.

What he displayed was the Dragon Drop. A near-orthodox strike performed with both legs.

With a grating metallic sound, the golem’s body rose slightly.

It flew. It deliberately let itself be thrown. The power decreased. The moment Llewellyn landed, he lunged forward.

Lorian ran beside Llewellyn, but there was a significant difference in speed.

The black gleaming armor stretched like a beam of light and collided with the golem.

First, he thrust his elbow with acceleration. The elbow was blocked by the golem’s outstretched left hand.

Then came the golem’s fist. Llewellyn didn’t see the fist but felt the moment of impact. Bang! He felt the sacred blood covering his armor shatter.

KWAGAGAGAGAGAK!

The sacred blood around the armor shattered into fragments with the iron man’s armor-breaking power. Yet the bronze body wasn’t even scratched.

But it was pushed back. In the momentary gap, Lorian caught up and filled her entire body with blood armor.

With an intake of breath, her beheading sword accelerated.

A sword strike swinging upward from below. As the golem’s back of the hand pushed it away, the sword rotated and pressed down on the hand with its hilt. The moment it pressed down, Llewellyn stepped on the golem’s knee, jumped up, and kicked its chin.

CRACK!

This time there was an effect. A gash carved into the bronze body. The head tilting.

But a golem is a golem. It’s not human. It doesn’t stop just because its head is shaken. With its head tilted back, the golem kicked out its leg, and Llewellyn had no way to block it.

Kwang! The sound reverberated through the armor into his body.

Though mourning reduced pain and removed all “debuffs,” it couldn’t do anything about the repulsion pushing his body or the pain itself.

Kuk! With blood surging from his mouth, Llewellyn’s body was pushed back.

The moment he planted his legs on the ground to brace himself, the golem dodged Lorian who was swinging her sword at it, rotated, and kicked out.

Again, the target was Llewellyn. The moment he crossed his arms to block, his arms broke and his body flew.

‘It penetrates the armor?’

There was no damage to the armor. It was as if it penetrated the armor and delivered impact to the inside.

No, that’s not it. Llewellyn saw Elise who had lost her head as he flew. It was the armor that allowed him to withstand; without it, his body would have been pierced through.

Flipping his body in mid-air and using anti-magic power as a foothold to stop, it was obvious what would follow. It knew he wasn’t dead from this.

So Llewellyn gritted his teeth and accelerated with anti-magic power.

Accelerating with the force generated by the repulsion between anti-magic power and magic, and at that moment, using explosive leaps while rolling on the ground.

The degree of acceleration is proportional to strength, agility, and health. Llewellyn’s strength was already comparable to a giant’s, his agility was unprecedented, and so was his health.

Even trolls couldn’t compare to the robustness of Llewellyn’s body, so Llewellyn’s body accelerated.

With boiling strength, muscles pushed his body, and excellent reflexes knew the exact moment for acceleration and pushed forward.

A body harder than metal supported and maintained such acceleration. Added to this was acceleration through anti-magic power.

For a moment, Llewellyn became a beam of light. A black gleaming arrow rushing forward, Llewellyn raised his legs and extended both feet.

Commonly known in wrestling as a dropkick.

A powerful attack with the full weight of the body, if there are sufficient means of acceleration.

An attack also contained in the Dragon Drop. Though lacking a tail, he performed it using anti-magic power instead.

This strike could not be blocked even by a real dragon.

Llewellyn rushed forward with the intention of kicking the golem away.

GUUUUUUUUNG!

When his confidently extended legs were blatantly blocked, his eyes widened.

It didn’t even budge. Such a powerful strike should have pushed it back even if blocked, and even if dodged, it should have been swept away.

For a moment, Llewellyn was suspended in mid-air.

Thanks to his cognition accelerated to the extreme, Llewellyn could see the golem.

The golem caught Llewellyn’s feet with its palms turned upward, and with arms crossed, it glared at Llewellyn with crystal eyes devoid of emotion.

It displayed clear disappointment.

‘Is this… all you’ve got?’

A voice that shouldn’t be audible was heard. As Llewellyn’s eyes widened.

Swack! Llewellyn’s body flew through the air.

He was slammed into the ground by his caught ankle.

BANG!

The world shook. The world flew dizzily toward Llewellyn and pounded him.

Feeling himself accelerating in the opposite direction again, Llewellyn instinctively covered his head.

KWANG!

Blood surged from his mouth, and his head felt as if it was being crushed by pressure. He kicked his legs to escape, but they didn’t reach.

The world was moving faster and faster.

Because the golem holding Llewellyn’s ankle was moving even faster.

He felt the collision sounds being muffled at his ears, and one collision sound seemed to mix with the next one immediately after.

The cave shook, and in the chain of violence and collisions, Llewellyn’s forehead was torn, his eyes burst, and fragments of his crushed internal organs spewed from his mouth.

What was happening was simple. It was just grabbing his ankle and slamming him around randomly.

Even Lorian’s shouts couldn’t be heard due to his burst eardrums, but the violence stopped when Lorian launched an attack.

CRACK!

The nearly 2-meter iron mace that the golem swung in retaliation pounded Lorian’s side.

CRUNCH!

Finally, Llewellyn’s ankle couldn’t withstand the impact and broke.

As the broken ankle fell off, Llewellyn’s body flew, entangled with Lorian.

Crumble! The ground was torn as Lorian and Llewellyn tumbled together.

Lorian, soaked in blood and collapsed, and Llewellyn, trembling and vomiting his internal organs.

Watching their misery, the golem tossed away the ankle it had been holding and said:

“You have fallen, ■■■.”

As if deeply disappointed.