Ch.438Chapter 438 – Golem Sophia (1)

The tank named Lizanis was terrifying.

“UAAAAAAAH!!!!”

At some point, as if she had lost her reason in her own excitement, she kept emitting fierce roars rather than words while continuously crushing golems.

With a large halberd, with her fists, with her legs.

Even headbutting with her own head, Lizanis advanced forward like a literal tank.

Whether it was to maintain her destructive power or because she wasn’t smart enough to think properly, she couldn’t match the pace of those following her, and Noah and I were running at full speed behind her.

“Hmm, I thought her technique was just passable, but her strength is the real deal.”

“…So Ms. Eve managed to defeat someone like her.”

Noah, who was talking just fine while running, and Sera, who was in my arms, looked at Eve as they spoke.

And while cradled in my arms, Eve slightly pushed out her chest and whispered to me.

“Impressive, right?”

“I get it, but duck your head!”

I said urgently as an axe swung by a golem flew over Eve’s head.

Eve, seemingly knowing she wouldn’t get hit, just smiled and nestled back into my arms.

Then Sera hugged me tightly as if competing, causing my balance to tilt slightly.

Still, I couldn’t stop.

Neither Eve nor Sera could keep up with Lizanis’s pace.

So someone had to become their legs.

Therefore, I had to be their legs, which meant I couldn’t properly engage in combat.

Eve and Sera did fight back somewhat while being carried, but being in my arms limited what they could do.

Inevitably, Noah had to move behind me to protect me.

‘I wish Lizanis would be a bit more considerate.’

If she had just matched her pace, we could have moved safely surrounded on both sides, but it was unfortunate that Lizanis was too excited to do so.

On the other hand, having someone with such formidable power as an escort gave us some hope of overcoming this crisis, so I couldn’t just blame her.

After all, most enemies were at the front, and Lizanis was crushing them as much as possible.

‘It was good to listen to Lizi.’

While thinking that bringing her along was the right decision, despite the somewhat entangled lizardman politics behind the request, Noah’s voice reached me.

“By the way, it’s impressive how you can run at that speed while carrying two people!”

“…If you’re going to compliment me, clear the way!”

With an acknowledgment, Noah swung his sword while running.

His swordplay, slightly slower than Sia’s but still very fast, deflected the golem’s attack.

Though he couldn’t destroy it like Lizanis, that was enough, so I kicked the golem over while being careful not to let Sera get hurt.

“I’m sorry, am I too heavy?”

“……”

Sera’s apologetic voice reached me.

Unfortunately, if I admitted she was heavy, I’d be in trouble later, so I pretended not to hear and continued following Lizanis.

Meanwhile, Lizanis was gripping her halberd with both hands and swinging it widely.

She seemed to be trying to increase her attack range to destroy multiple enemies at once.

“UAAAAAAAH!!”

As I was thinking that I wished she would start speaking like a normal person, Lizanis’s halberd shattered the golems in front.

Thanks to her increased attack range, the advancing golems momentarily stopped.

Since there were no enemies in front, Lizanis also paused briefly, and as her excitement seemed to cool, her joyful voice was heard.

“Done! White Dragon! Lizanis has cleared the path!”

“Then run forward!”

“Yes!”

With a cheerful voice, Lizanis dashed forward excitedly.

I felt Eve slightly embracing me as I looked ahead.

‘I feel like something dangerous is coming soon.’

The golems had definitely gotten stronger and were pushing forward with numbers, but the situation was still manageable at our level.

And Sophia had said she wouldn’t let us proceed easily.

I was starting to think she would soon pull out a powerful card or try some trick.

And as if reading my thoughts, a voice came from somewhere.

[Wow! Breaking through those numbers! That boar woman, there’s a limit to how ridiculously strong she can be!]

“Take that back! I’m a lizardman!”

I looked at Lizanis with slight disdain as she seriously took offense at the metaphor.

Of course, Sophia’s voice continued without paying any attention to that.

[Well then, shall we increase the difficulty as you expect?]

Just as I was about to reply that I wasn’t expecting it, there was a clicking sound, and Lizanis suddenly shouted loudly.

“Watch out for the floor! Bombs!”

As she said this, Lizanis swung her halberd toward the ground.

Just from that simple action, explosions began to erupt along where she had swung.

“Did she intercept them!”

“Don’t let your guard down! They’re coming up from underground!”

Lizanis angrily replied to Noah’s words.

And, as if to prove her right, golems suddenly began to spring up from the ground.

They were horseshoe crab-shaped golems with red lights glowing from their backs.

“Those are all bombs!”

Lizanis shouted while swinging her legs widely.

Perhaps due to her immense strength, some golems detonated on the spot.

However, some survived and approached us, and seeing this, Eve immediately shouted toward Noah.

“Waist, center!”

That was all she said, but did he understand the instruction?

Noah narrowed his eyes and swung his sword.

With quick iaido, he shattered the mines that hadn’t been removed yet.

And realizing we couldn’t move quickly like this, Sera and Eve jumped down from my body on their own and raised their weapons, and at that moment—

I heard a sound from the wall and immediately switched my weapon to a shield.

With a scraping sound, something scratched the shield multiple times.

“Traps in the walls too!”

“Clattering and annoying…!”

Lizanis shouted angrily and threw an about-to-explode golem at the trap.

As the golem exploded, the sound of the wall breaking was heard, and looking past my shield, I could see what appeared to be a recently opened trap now destroyed.

I immediately changed my weapon to a hammer and smashed the waist of an approaching golem, while Sera shouted as she reached into her pocket.

“Please step back a bit!”

As soon as I jumped back slightly, Sera rolled what looked like an explosive vial forward.

The rolling vial passed between the legs of several golems until it hit one golem’s leg and immediately made a loud explosion.

Since the explosion was close to the ground, part of the ground was blown away, and the golems caught in it were pulverized.

After we finished off the remaining golems, a voice praising us was heard again.

[I didn’t expect you to break through this far with sheer force. Well, shall I send out the elites now?]

“Why does Sera’s grandmother like golems so much?”

“I don’t know!”

I muttered in exasperation at Sophia’s voice suggesting she still had more golems left after we had destroyed so many, and Sera replied with a voice that sounded like she might cry.

Meanwhile, with a thud from the sky, three golems descended.

They looked like humans enlarged by about 1.3 times.

And they were very intricately designed.

“…They look like some kind of royal guard…”

They resembled elite knights in full plate armor, but larger.

The golems we had faced until now were quite detailed, but these even had decorations.

And one of them began to look down at me.

It raised its sword and shield and started approaching me.

Following suit, the other two golems also slowly began to move toward Lizanis and Noah.

“White Dragon, please step back!”

Lizanis shouted as she leaped forward, as if saying she would handle it alone.

With terrifying leg strength, she instantly closed the distance and grabbed her halberd to swing it widely.

Since the golems we had faced so far moved somewhat slowly, she seemed intent on gathering enough strength to destroy this one decisively.

And just as she gripped her halberd with both arms and raised it upward—

One of the golems struck her abdomen with its shield.

“…Kuh!”

Having underestimated its speed, Lizanis was hit by the shield.

However, her body was so sturdy that she stood firm, and as if in retaliation, she brought down her halberd.

The sound of the golem’s armor cracking under Lizanis’s halberd was heard.

But true to the term “elite,” the golem wasn’t destroyed.

Instead, as if to pay her back, it rammed its shoulder into her.

“Chiiit!!”

As if enraged, Lizanis jumped back, landed, and then charged at the golem again.

And she swung her halberd at the golem with terrifying speed.

The problem was that, perhaps in her excitement, she had gone ahead alone again.

As a result, two golems were still coming toward us.

I exchanged glances with Noah.

“Take one.”

“Will do.”

As Noah darted diagonally away from me, one of the golems shifted its gaze to follow him.

The golem swung its large spear to hit Noah, who stepped on the spear, stood on it, and then drew his sword to aim for the golem’s neck.

While Lizanis was fighting one golem and Noah was handling another, the area became filled with loud noises again. Meanwhile, the third golem, which had more elaborate decorations than the other two, aimed its sword and shield at me as if ready to engage.

I changed my weapon to a sword and shield as well, and quietly said to Sera and Eve behind me:

“Step back a bit.”

“I’ll support you.”

“I’ll protect Sera, so be careful, Kay.”

Nodding at their words, I stepped forward.

The golem charged at me, kicking off the ground, and I immediately used my shield to withstand its charge.

My body was pushed back slightly, but I held firm and swung my sword, which the golem blocked with its shield.

Sera’s magic missile, seemingly aimed to exploit an opening, was dodged by the golem as it nimbly ducked.

‘This is quite surprising.’

Though there was some awkwardness in its movements, it could move almost as fast and precisely as a human.

With its unique size, strength, defense, and now speed—

I should have realized it when it was able to exchange blows with Lizanis, the great warrior of the Bestia, but this was vastly different from ordinary golems.

‘It’s on par with those Black Knights.’

Though it might be slightly inferior in reality, I thought that golems of this caliber could hold their own against the monstrous holy knights of the Emiris Order.

While I was thinking about what it would mean if they could mass-produce such creatures, the golem’s sword came flying toward my head.

‘Anyway, getting rid of this thing is the priority now.’

At first, I matched it with a sword and shield, but it was obvious that trying to defeat this sturdy opponent with just those would take a long time.

I changed my weapon to a halberd to deflect its sword, then to a hammer to target and crush its knee.

The golem tried to swing its sword, but with Eve’s command, Sera’s magic slightly touched the golem’s sword, throwing off its trajectory.

Not missing the opportunity, I changed my weapon to a flail and wrapped the chain around the gap in the golem’s arm armor, then pulled hard.

With all my strength, the arm holding the sword came off, and I ducked to avoid the shield it swung to strike me, then kicked the flail embedded in the floor upward.

The flail hit the golem’s head, shattering its helmet, and through the gap, I glimpsed something like a red light.

Then I kicked its arm to knock away its shield and stepped on its chest to knock it down.

“It’s over.”

Before the golem could raise its arm in resistance, I quickly changed my weapon to a mace and struck down hard.

The golem’s head completely caved in, and its movements stopped.

After finishing off one, I saw what looked like the upper half of a golem that Lizanis had thrown flying to the opposite side, and Noah successfully beheading his golem with his sword.

[My, how impressive.]

As if she had been watching from somewhere, Sophia’s voice was immediately heard.

[I thought you’d hold out until preparations were complete… I didn’t expect you to finish so quickly.]

“This much is manageable!”

Lizanis shouted, bleeding slightly.

She seemed injured, but not seriously.

“Not enough! Stop sending out these pebbles and bring out something worthwhile!”

[Such bravado.]

At Sophia’s voice, Noah cleared his throat slightly.

He pointed his weapon at Sophia and said:

“So is this finally the end?”

[Of course not. But sending out more small fry would be… wouldn’t it?]

The floating sphere seemed to be lost in thought for a moment.

And after a while, Sophia spoke with what sounded like a smile:

[Very well. Shall we meet at the bottom?]

“Bottom?”

With an ominous feeling, I heard the sound of the floor cracking.

Immediately, Eve shouted:

“Kay!”

Eve and Sera rushed toward me again.

Just as I picked them up, the ground began to collapse once more.

Feeling weightless, my body started falling, and Sera quickly reached into her pocket.

“This will slow us down!”

As Sera sprinkled some powder, it felt like it was forcibly pushing our bodies upward, and our falling speed began to decrease.

Using that force, Lizanis and Noah landed safely on the ground, and then I touched down safely as well.

Unlike before, an extremely spacious area appeared.

“…This is.”

[The lowest level of this place. Where my main body is.]

The voice didn’t come from above.

It came from the front, along with the sound of something approaching.

[The Philosopher’s Stone created by Lady Maria is right ahead.]

“…Grandmother.”

Sera murmured quietly.

And Sophia’s voice was heard again.

[If you came here looking for it, I’ll say you’ve done well to reach this place.]

“What if I ask you to hand over the stone and let us go?”

[I refuse. I didn’t call you here to give it to you. Also, the secrets of this place must be protected.]

Her voice was resolute.

[If you really want to take the stone, if you want to leave here alive.]

I changed my weapon to a halberd, feeling a slightly bad premonition as the voice slowly approached.

[First, you’ll have to get past me.]

Sophia’s voice now came from right in front of us.

A little girl who looked like a miniature version of Sera was slowly approaching.