Ch.36Chapter 36 – Corpse Golem

I took a step back as I watched the corpse golem continue to scream.

“… Is there nothing else we can do?”

If my sword doesn’t work, there’s almost nothing I can do.

Grasping at straws, I looked at Christina, but she shook her head with a pale face.

“If Holy Light doesn’t work… it means almost nothing I can use will work either…”

As the golem swung its fist again, I dodged according to its movement.

More innocent undead fell victim to its fist.

“Surely that’s not all you can use, right?”

“I know healing, blessings, and the basics, but I don’t think they’ll work on that monster!”

“Can’t you, like, imbue my sword with holy power or something?”

“It won’t be as powerful as Holy Light!”

It seemed Christina didn’t have any particular solution either.

“…We can’t just sit here and take it. Let’s do what we can.”

“Yes!”

Steeling my resolve, I glared at the golem alongside Christina.

The battle resumed as we dodged the golem’s massive swinging arms.

I avoided its heavy arms and physical attacks.

I slashed with my sword again and again.

The corpses were cut, but it had no effect on the monster’s main body.

Once more, golden energy flew and began to burn the monster’s body.

In response, it simply discarded the burned parts.

‘Doesn’t it have any weaknesses?’

I thought to myself while glaring at the creature.

Still, parts of it were falling off from sword cuts and burns.

If we keep fighting with gritted teeth, couldn’t we at least immobilize it?

Fortunately, as the monster was wildly swinging its arms, it was actually clearing away the zombies that were rushing in.

‘I’ll cut it somehow.’

Just as I tightened my grip, it happened.

-“KYAAAAAAAH!!!”

The golem, with many parts burned away, screamed toward the sky and suddenly moved away from Christina and me.

Then it grabbed a wandering zombie and began stuffing it haphazardly into its abdomen.

“No, fuck.”

The zombie, which had been struggling awkwardly, naturally merged into the golem’s body and soon became a component of the golem, causing me to curse involuntarily.

‘…I didn’t expect it to have recovery methods too.’

The situation had become even more desperate.

Options like “just wildly cutting through the monster’s body” as we did with the zombie horde earlier were now impossible.

I knew its body was made of corpses, but I didn’t expect it could grab any nearby zombie and make it part of itself.

‘There’s no way to win.’

We need to escape somehow.

Looking at Christina, I said:

“Hey, I have a question.”

“Yes…”

Perhaps still in shock from what we just witnessed, Christina answered weakly.

“If you use that blessing, will it enhance physical abilities?”

“Yes… but…”

She added that it probably wouldn’t work on that monster.

“Can you use it consecutively? On both of us.”

“…You want to run? It’s possible. It’s possible, but…”

“But?”

“It won’t make us incredibly fast… That monster will catch us eventually.”

The monster itself was more agile than expected, and it was also spewing acidic liquid.

If we couldn’t stop its movements, even escaping would be difficult.

Christina hung her head.

“I’m really useless…”

Well, the sword doesn’t work, and when spells are nearly nullified by a monster that tears off its own body parts and then replenishes itself with wandering zombies…

It would be hard for anyone to keep their composure.

Christina stared blankly for a moment, then looked at me and finally clasped her hands together with determination.

“…’Grant us sturdy bodies.'”

As she quietly chanted, a golden aura appeared around her and then moved to me.

“What’s this?”

“A blessing.”

Christina looked at me.

“You’ll become stronger and won’t tire as easily.”

“Why this?”

It was Christina herself who said this alone wouldn’t be enough to escape.

When I asked what she was thinking, her blue eyes looked straight at me.

“Run away. Use me as bait.”

“Hey now.”

Christina opened her mouth.

“I… I’m not afraid. If I die, I’ll just go to God’s side.”

Christina spoke calmly.

No, she was pretending to be calm.

When someone clenches their fists tightly and their whole body keeps trembling, you can’t help but notice.

-“KYAAAAH!!!!”

Christina squeezed her eyes shut as the golem threw a zombie.

I quickly kicked it away.

“Are you scared?”

“…No, I’m fine, so hurry…”

Sigh, damn it.

I lifted Christina up.

Surprised, she cried out:

“It’s impossible with both of us!”

“Be quiet. Here we go.”

Seeing it spew green liquid, I quickly jumped to the side.

I cut down the zombie in front of us with my greatsword and started running.

“KYAAAAH!!!”

The corpse golem chased after us as if determined not to let us escape.

A chase similar to the one at the ossuary unfolded between us and the monster.

The difference was that Christina, who had been shouting energetically in the ossuary, was now making completely different sounds.

“Put me down! We’ll both die like this!”

“Then run on your own feet!”

If I put her down, she would surely sit still and let herself be bait.

And she would definitely die without even buying much time.

In that case, it’s better for me to carry her and run.

Absolutely, I’m not doing this because I’d feel guilty if I survived that way.

Thanks to the blessing, my legs showed no signs of weakening.

But there was a limit.

‘…Is it ending?’

The golden aura surrounding my body gradually began to weaken.

My legs started to feel slightly fatigued.

“Can you cast the blessing again?”

“Consecutively on one person… it’s a burden…!”

“We’ll die either way! Cast it!”

Christina closed her eyes as if concentrating.

Thankfully, she was still listening to me.

“‘Grant us sturdy bod-‘…Eek!”

However, as if determined not to let her cast the blessing again, the golem began uprooting and throwing gravestones.

This scattered Christina’s concentration, and her blessing failed.

When Christina tried to cast the blessing again, I could feel the monster focusing its attacks on her with green liquid and gravestones.

“I’m sorry, I can’t concentrate like this…!”

Christina began to sob.

‘…So it won’t let us escape, huh?’

That’s a bit infuriating.

My body started to feel a little hot.

“You should use useless me as bait instead…”

“For the sake of the church people, could you stop saying that?!”

I snapped, too annoyed to listen anymore.

Even if she became bait, she wouldn’t buy any time.

Can’t be helped.

“Christina.”

“Yes?”

I lifted Christina with all my strength.

“Wait, what are you—”

She seemed to have caught on, her voice urgent.

With all my might, I threw Christina.

“Fly!!!”

“Hey?!”

Maybe it was the blessing or the heat I felt in my body.

I succeeded in throwing Christina away.

She flew farther than I expected, disappearing beyond the trees.

‘She should be fine.’

Just in case, I made sure her front was facing upward and threw her as carefully as possible.

I didn’t throw her that high, so she should be okay.

And as if announcing her disappearance, the golden aura within me vanished.

Christina’s blessing was no longer with me.

I drew my greatsword and faced the corpse golem.

“Alright.”

Did we run to a place without undead?

Or did the golem clear them all?

Or did it incorporate them into its body?

Due to running, I couldn’t tell, but the golem seemed even larger now as I focused on it.

Feeling heat and smoke emanating from my body, I charged at the golem.

I immediately swung my greatsword and cut the golem.

Deeper than before, the golem’s body was sliced.

But being an artificial creature, it felt no pain.

It simply counterattacked calmly.

If a wound was severe, it just discarded that part.

“Take this!”

I thrust my sword in and cut off its arm.

I slashed with all my might.

The golem’s arm fell off completely.

-“…Aaah.”

However, the golem calmly picked up its severed arm and placed it against the cut area.

The corpses making up its body joined hands, and the arm was restored.

I tried cutting off the other arm with all my strength, but the result was the same.

“…Damn it!”

Next was the leg, then the head.

I cut them one by one.

It regenerated them one by one.

“Fine, let’s see who dies first, you or me!”

Thinking I had to end this somehow before the heat in my body dissipated, I began moving with the intent to reduce the monster to dust.

+

“Ow, ow, ow…”

Christina rubbed her bottom.

It was slightly scraped.

As she tried to get up, she found herself lying down, staring blankly at the sky.

‘It’s like back then.’

When she was born an orphan and dying in the slums.

When she was being beaten to death while being told she was useless.

If the church priest hadn’t saved her, she wouldn’t be here now.

‘…I really am a useless child.’

When she was young, whenever she said such things, the priest would comfort her, saying she was a child who could do anything if she tried…

But as she grew up, she couldn’t think that way.

Christina thought that if she became bait, she might be of some use.

‘Ah.’

With the pain, she remembered.

What her benefactor had said to her:

-“For the sake of the church people, could you stop saying that?”

‘That’s right.’

Christina stood up with all her strength.

Yes, if she died, they would be sad.

But.

“…My benefactor must come with me…”

She shouldn’t return alone.

He must have people waiting for him too.

Christina got up.

Deliberately ignoring her painful body, she walked awkwardly toward the place she had been thrown from.

She could hear the sounds of fighting.

And.

‘…Smoke?!’

She witnessed an unusual phenomenon.

Smoke was coming from her benefactor’s body.

At some point, when he swung his sword, the monster’s arms or legs were severed in a single strike.

The monster’s body, which had only been slightly cut before, was now being completely severed.

Wasn’t this enough to have a chance?

‘No.’

Christina denied that thought.

It was because the monster could regenerate.

Moreover, if it felt its body was lacking, it would forcibly dig up corpses from graves to fill in the missing parts.

This place was optimal for the monster.

Even if its body was destroyed, there were too many materials to replenish it with.

“Ugh!”

The monster’s arm grazed her benefactor’s face.

His helmet was slightly broken.

“…My goodness…!”

Christina saw it.

Her benefactor’s face had deep burn scars.

Who on earth had done this to him?

Christina felt anger.

She immediately recognized them as burns deliberately inflicted using holy power.

Someone had maintained a flame raised with holy power and burned his face.

It was purely for the purpose of tormenting and torturing the other person.

No matter how inadequate she might be, there was something she knew.

Holy power is used to protect someone.

Not to torment someone.

To gather holy power like that, just to burn someone’s face…

“Ah…!”

In Christina’s mind, a thought emerged.

+

“BENEFACTOOOOR!!!!”

‘What the hell, why did she come back?!’

I thought while forcibly deflecting the golem’s arm.

“HOLY WATER!!!! USE HOLY WATER!!!”

I focused on Christina’s words.

“Sprinkle holy water on your sword!!!”

Thinking “Oh right, I had that,” I took out the holy water from the pouch tied to my waist.

I poured the holy water on my greatsword, almost breaking the bottle in the process.

But am I just supposed to cut with this?

It won’t be that effective, will it?

“Holy Light!”

I saw Christina shooting light at the golem that had approached.

The golem stepped back, and Christina arrived at my side.

I could see her gathering her power again.

“Holy Light!”

This time, she shot the light at my sword.

Perhaps because of the golden energy, my sword glowed with a golden light.

“This is…”

“Cut it down!”

Christina said, catching her breath.

“Before the holy water evaporates, cut it down!”

Christina shouted, seemingly unconcerned about the smoke coming from my body or the burns on my face.

I charged at the corpse golem.

I cut the monster with my golden-glowing greatsword.

Its arm burst into flames.

“KYAAAAAAAH!!!!”

“…Right. Now I remember.”

Christina had explained about holy water.

Holy water has the power to temporarily gather and amplify holy power.

A normal Holy Light would burn just one or two corpses of the golem and that’s it.

But now, Christina’s holy power is gathered in the holy water, as if they were one.

The holy water, which is amplifying the holy power it contains, is now applied to my sword.

-“KYAAAAH!!!!”

Making an unfitting female scream, the golem’s body began to collapse one by one.

But this was different from before.

Both separated and unseparated corpses were burning equally.

There was no point in separating one or two bodies.

Once cut, they burned and couldn’t regenerate.

I attacked the monster while avoiding its desperate counterattacks.

“HAAAAH!!!”

I swung my sword with a battle cry.

My body started to feel cold.

The golden energy in the sword was gradually weakening.

Therefore, I cut with all my might.

Finally, the golem was bisected and burst into flames.