Ch.150Chapter 150 – The Stone Knight (2)

An unexpected race was unfolding in the ruined village.

“Where should we go?!”

“Somewhere we won’t get surrounded!”

If it had been just one or two golems, we would have stood our ground and fought. But with their superior numbers, the risk to our rear units was too great.

We needed to retreat to a location where the terrain would make it difficult for the golems to attack the women. At my shout, Beatrice nodded, and I quickly hoisted Christina onto my back.

“Oh, again?!”

Once more, I carried Christina with her lower body facing my front. She immediately adjusted herself slightly to be carried more comfortably.

“I’ll watch the rear!”

She seemed to have gotten used to this by now. Soon, Christina’s voice called out.

“The golems are raising their spears!”

“Let’s take cover over there!”

Following Beatrice’s instruction, we quickly ducked behind a building. Then we heard the dull sound of something hitting the wall.

“Looks like they threw them.”

Those stone weapons must be heavy, yet they threw them with ease.

“Are these ones stronger than the ones before?”

“Maybe the weaker ones patrol the outside, while the stronger ones are stationed somewhere and come rushing out when needed.”

Eve said as we ran. Somehow we had entered what used to be an alley, as the path was gradually narrowing. Both sides were covered with the debris of buildings, forming a straight path.

It was a place where the enemy could surround us with their numerical advantage and prevent us from moving.

“…Let’s make our stand and fight here.”

I ran to near the exit on the opposite side and set Christina down.

As soon as I put her down, Christina, Sarah, and Eve took positions a bit away from the exit, while Beatrice and I moved slightly inward to prepare for the enemies.

“The plan?”

“Christina, can you summon a shield in the middle of the path?”

“Yes.”

I nodded at Christina’s answer.

“Sarah and Eve, if things look bad or if they’re about to break through, throw bombs at the ones beyond the shield.”

“Yes!”

“Leave it to me.”

Since the sword I had was unsuitable for fighting golems, I saw Eve receiving bombs from Sarah. Shortly after, the golems appeared outside the alley.

“‘Protect the lambs!'”

A golden shield appeared at Christina’s prayer. The shield that materialized in the middle of the path effectively blocked the enemies’ advance.

Originally meant for bodily protection, it made an excellent wall when used this way. The enemies immediately began striking the shield with their weapons.

-KWANG! KWANG!

“That’s not nearly enough!” Christina shouted confidently.

The shield created by holy magic wasn’t showing even a scratch from the enemies’ attacks.

-KAGAGAK!

Soon, some golems seemed to realize attacking was pointless and stopped. They began climbing over their comrades to get across.

“Where do you think you’re going!”

Beatrice immediately launched a sphere of magical energy. The golem that was hit began to stagger.

Then I swung my hammer down hard at that golem.

-PUEOK!

Whether it was the blessing effect from Christina or I was lucky enough to hit a weak spot, the golem lost its upper body and tumbled down.

In that gap, another one trampled over its allies beyond the shield and immediately tried to stab me with its lance.

“Not so fast!”

I quickly changed my hammer to a spear, deflected the lance, and struck upward. The enemy’s arm went up, and Beatrice placed her hand on its abdomen.

-PUEONG!

An explosion erupted from the golem’s abdomen, separating and shattering its upper and lower body.

“What was that?”

“What else? I caused an explosion from inside!”

Beatrice shouted, shaking her hand a few times. Meanwhile, two more enemies climbed over and charged at us, and we each took one to deal with.

At the same time, Christina’s shout was heard.

“The shield is about to disappear!”

“Sarah!”

At my call, Sarah immediately began her incantation.

“Clay Wall!”

A wall of mud appeared, enveloping the shield. The enemies then began swinging their weapons to break the mud wall.

“I’m throwing it!”

Eve shouted as she threw a bomb, which arced through the air and landed on the enemies’ heads. With the explosion, several enemies lost their heads, and part of the wall was also damaged.

Simultaneously, Christina created another shield to obstruct the enemies’ path, and this time I saw Sarah throwing a bomb.

Meanwhile, Beatrice and I each took one of the two enemies that had climbed over and destroyed them.

“Good, at this rate…”

It was tough, but we were steadily reducing their numbers. It seemed possible to eliminate all the enemies here before we were worn out.

After destroying about five more that had climbed over, we noticed something strange happening with the enemies.

“…What is that?!”

Suddenly Sarah cried out in surprise, so I smashed the golem I was fighting and looked beyond the shield.

The stone knights’ forms were changing.

“What are they trying to…”

“Oh no, run quickly!”

Eve shouted at us as she threw her last bomb.

“What on earth…”

-KUNG! KUUNG!

The sound of rocks colliding with each other. Glancing back, I saw that the stone knights from before had transformed into boulders. And they were gathering in one place.

“…No way, are they…”

The enemies’ forms began to change. The rocks that formed their armor transformed, and their bodies split and changed.

What appeared shortly after was a giant stone knight wielding an enormous lance and shield.

“…They combined, damn it!”

A barrier would be meaningless against that size. Immediately abandoning our defensive line, Beatrice and I jumped backward.

The giant’s massive foot landed where Beatrice and I had been standing just moments ago, crushing everything around it.

“Damn, are golems all about combining?!”

The corpse golems we saw in the ossuary combined, and now these ones are combining too. The difference is that these look quite impressive compared to the corpse golems.

The common point is that we’re their enemies.

-KAGAGAAAAK!!!

As if venting the frustration from being one-sidedly attacked in the narrow path earlier, the giant began chasing us, destroying buildings and paths with an incomprehensible roar.

The one fortunate thing was that, perhaps due to its increased size, its body wasn’t as agile as before.

Once again, I carried Christina on my back, while Sarah hurriedly searched through her belongings.

“Hiyah!”

With a cute battle cry, Sarah threw a bomb. It was larger and looked more dangerous than the ones she had distributed to us so far. Sarah threw it at the golem with her peculiar superhuman strength, and the bomb flew straight at the golem and hit it.

-PUEONG!

“It hit the head, no, the neck!”

At Christina’s words, I quickly looked back and indeed saw smoke rising from the golem’s head area. The head fell off, and the golem stopped moving.

Seeing this, Beatrice spoke.

“Did we defeat it?”

“Hey, don’t jinx it.”

I glared at Beatrice for saying something she shouldn’t have.

Soon, the golem put down its shield and moved its hand to pick up its head. It stabbed the ground with its massive lance, and a huge boulder that had been buried somewhere was lifted up, impaled on the lance.

-WIIIIING!!!

The lance rotated like a drill, crushing the boulder. I hoped it would stop there, but…

“The, the neck is regenerating?!”

As Christina said, the crushed rocks were drawn into the golem’s neck area and soon formed a new neck. Then it reattached its head with its own hand.

“Do golems come with self-repair as standard? Damn.”

I remembered the corpse golem we saw before. It used the zombies around it to repair itself, and I wondered if this golem was similar.

At this point, it seems like golems specialize in combining and self-repair.

Then, seeing a shadow cast over my head, I quickly jumped to the side.

-KWANG!!

An enormous sound was heard. Looking beyond my field of vision, I saw Beatrice taking care of Sarah and Eve and descending from the air, probably realizing she wouldn’t make it in time.

“…It’s certainly a heavyweight.”

The ground sank slightly from just one punch. Then the giant swung its arm widely, targeting Christina and me, and I rolled quickly on the ground while practically embracing Christina.

“Eeeek!!”

Christina’s scream was heard as the giant’s fist barely grazed above our heads. But the giant’s attack didn’t end there.

-WIIIIING!!

“Hey, dodge!”

At Beatrice’s voice, I quickly looked toward the sound and saw a rotating lance coming at me. I threw Christina to Beatrice to get her away and rolled quickly in the opposite direction.

-KWAAAAANG!!!!

The giant’s lance dug into the ground, scattering stones all around.

I quickly changed my weapon to a greatsword to use as a shield, and on the other side, I saw Sarah raising a wall of earth.

“This much is…!”

The impact was transmitted to the greatsword, but it wasn’t unbearable. Peering over it to look at the giant and search for a chance to counterattack, I saw the giant move its head. And I heard something moving in the giant’s head.

“…What is that?!”

In what would be the slit for vision in a helmet, I heard something moving abundantly, and soon large stones began shooting out.

“It even has such a suppression method!”

“‘Protect the lambs!'”

A golden shield formed in front of me. Stones that might be mere sand grains to the giant but could crack our heads if we were hit wrong began to rain down on us.

The impact of the stones thrown directly from the giant’s head and those scattered by the rotating drill continuously struck the shield.

-KAGAGAGAGAGAK

The stone shower that had been going on for a while suddenly stopped. Perhaps thinking it couldn’t eliminate us with just that, the giant raised its lance. And its head turned slightly as if searching for us.

“Uh…”

The moment I thought the giant’s gaze had turned toward Christina who was with Beatrice.

“Run!!”

Beatrice immediately embraced Christina and moved while swinging her chain, and I saw Eve and Sarah quickly running in another direction. The giant’s heavy leg landed where they had been.

-KAGAK!

Once again, the giant swung its arm, its drill, targeting Beatrice and Christina.

“Damn it, do something, helmet!”

Beatrice was in a state where she couldn’t counterattack because she was holding Christina with one hand and moving the chain with the other.

‘What to do.’

Should I cling to it and strike repeatedly?

No, that won’t work. Even if I cling to that bulk and swing my weapon wildly, it’s questionable how long it would take to destroy it, and it can self-repair anyway.

If possible, I need to inflict major damage at once.

‘But Beatrice can’t move.’

The one with the most firepower in our group was Beatrice. But she was currently busy evading the giant’s attacks while carrying Christina.

In this situation, even if Beatrice wanted to use a powerful technique, she couldn’t.

‘A method to inflict great damage besides Beatrice’s magic.’

The alternative that came to mind was Sarah’s bombs. The bomb that had blown off the head earlier could significantly damage part of the giant’s body.

But there was a problem with that too.

‘It wasn’t a decisive blow.’

The neck was blown off, but the golem repaired it and came at us. So even that bomb isn’t enough.

As I was rapidly thinking, it happened.

“Clay Wall!”

The giant began shooting stones through the gaps in its helmet again, and I saw Sarah raising a mud wall to protect Eve. I changed my weapon to a greatsword to use as a shield and sank back into thought.

‘At this rate…’

I saw the giant swinging its massive lance at Beatrice, and Beatrice momentarily throwing Christina into the air to dodge it. Then Beatrice caught Christina again, and I saw the giant’s weapon still rotating.

That massive lance caught my eye.

‘That’s it.’

If there’s no weapon, I should make one.

“K, at this rate, Beatrice will…”

I looked at Eve and Sarah who had approached me during a brief lull in the giant’s offensive.

“Sarah, can you blow off the giant’s leg from here?”

At my question, Sarah immediately fell into thought.

“One leg…”

Sarah showed me a bomb like the one she had thrown earlier. But seeing that she didn’t take out any more, it seemed that was her last one.

‘That’s unfortunate.’

It would be good if we could blow off both legs at once. But there’s no time to think more now.

“…I’ll cling to the giant, then throw it, understood?”

“K?!”

Ignoring Sarah’s subsequent shout, I quickly ran. Blocking the stones the giant was throwing from its helmet with my greatsword, I swiftly clung to the giant’s body.

-KAGAK?!

When I clung to it, the giant moved its body to try to shake me off. I changed my greatsword to a sword and stabbed it into the giant’s body, starting to climb up arduously.

Then the giant seemed to change its priority to me, as it moved to remove me.

It was like brushing off an insect. Actually, it probably was treating me like an insect.

“As if that’s enough to make me fall!”

I shouted while clinging to the giant’s arm. Since the giant’s arm was so massive and heavy, there was tremendous wind pressure while clinging to the swinging arm. I endured with all my might, and during a slight pause from the giant, I quickly switched to the opposite arm.

It seemed that even the giant wouldn’t think of stabbing itself with its lance.

“Sarah, throw it!!”

The moment I shouted, an explosion occurred.

The giant lost its balance somewhat, weakening its offensive, and I quickly reached its arm.

I immediately changed my weapon to a hammer and swung it down.

-KWANG!!

With a tremendous sound, a crack formed in the giant’s arm. However, it was just a crack, and the golem didn’t drop its weapon.

“Damn it!”

-KWANG!

-KWAANG!

After striking with the hammer about two more times, the crack deepened. And right after, as a shadow fell over my head, I quickly took out a ball that was hanging at my waist.

“Normally, this alone wouldn’t be enough.”

But now the exterior was cracked. I pulled the paper and threw it hard toward the giant’s arm.

-KWANG!!

“Ugh!”

Perhaps because I detonated it too close, I was caught in the explosion. My body fell and began to float in the air, and I saw the giant’s weapon falling.

Since I was close, I quickly clung to the giant’s lance. The tip of the lance was still rotating, perhaps due to remaining inertia.

‘Damn.’

But this is the end. There’s no way to swing or thrust it into the giant. Knowing this, the giant was calmly turning its head when suddenly…

-KWANG!!!

A sound came from the opposite side of the giant’s leg. The giant lost its balance and began to fall backward. And I saw Beatrice flying toward me, wrapping her chain around the collapsing giant’s leg.

“Thanks to you, I got a bit of a breather.”

It seemed she had put Christina down and destroyed the rest of the giant’s leg as soon as she got a moment’s respite.

And she immediately began an incantation beside me.

“Reverse Gravity.”

A magic that reverses gravity. My body floated up buoyantly. And the giant’s lance, which was still rotating, also lifted and began to point its tip toward the giant.

“Ready?”

“Of course.”

That was the end of the conversation. As Beatrice released the gravity, I began to fall toward the golem. The giant, with both legs destroyed by Sarah and Beatrice, had no way to dodge.

As a last resort, the giant turned its face toward me.

“Christina!”

“‘Protect the lambs’!”

What would have been a final resistance, the attack from the helmet, was blocked by a shield that appeared right in front of the giant, losing its effectiveness. Now there was nothing left to interfere.

Holding the rotating lance, I fell straight toward the giant.

-KAGAGAGAGAGAK!!

The giant’s bizarre sound mixed with the sound of the stone lance rotating. With an extremely grating noise, the giant’s armor began to break, and the lance continued to rotate and dig into the giant’s body.

And at that moment, I saw it.

‘The core.’

The foundation of the golem. The gem that gives commands.

A very small weakness compared to its massive body.

No need to think further. I can’t miss this opportunity.

I quickly changed my weapon to a hammer and ran. I ran at full speed over the giant, which was still moving despite being impaled by the lance.

The giant had raised its body slightly, but I ran with all my strength in my legs despite the increased height.

And I saw the gem at a position I could reach if I extended my weapon.

I swung the hammer with a battle cry.

“This is the end!!”

-JJANGGEULANG!!

A loud shattering sound echoed around.