Ch.439Chapter 439 – Golem Sophia (2)

[I will initiate final defense.]

The golem with a face resembling Sera spoke as it slowly approached.

I felt slightly uncomfortable at the eerily perfect face, and with a strange burden as if I were facing Sera herself, I quietly asked a question.

“Why do you look like Sera?”

[Because the Creator modeled me after her granddaughter.]

Sophia said this with a slightly smiling face.

[But please don’t feel burdened facing me just because of my appearance.]

Sophia waved her hand as if she had read my thoughts.

Then, armor similar to the elite golem I had faced earlier began to rise from the ground.

What emerged was a massive suit of armor floating in the air, like a human without a head or lower body.

Soon, it hovered just above Sophia’s head, as if protecting her.

And Sophia quietly said:

[Being a guardian of this place means having the strength to match that role.]

As she spoke, Sophia extended her hand.

And the moment a magic circle appeared above her hand, similar to what Beatrice would summon, I immediately switched my weapon to a shield and shouted:

“Get behind me!”

Simultaneously with my shout, the magic circle emitted light and created a spear of flame.

The flaming spear struck my shield, and I felt heat, mass, and impact all at once.

My body was pushed backward, but I managed to hold my ground by forcefully tensing my waist muscles and deflecting the shield with all my might, barely succeeding in blocking the magic.

[You blocked it.]

Sophia said, as if praising me for barely stopping her attack.

Then, I immediately asked Sera:

“Can golems use magic?”

“A golem master might use magic, but I’ve never heard of a golem itself using magic!”

Sera replied in confusion.

But that’s exactly what was happening.

Sophia was clearly using magic to attack us.

A golem, which should normally be controlled through magic or other means, was using magic itself.

Judging by the shocked reactions of Eve, Noah, and Sera, this was definitely not normal even by this world’s standards.

‘I need to reassess my opponent.’

It seemed better to think of her not as a golem, but as a mage with a golem’s body.

Just as I was thinking she might be as strong as Beatrice in close combat, Sophia waved her hand again.

This time, no magic circle appeared, so she wasn’t using magic.

Instead, the armor floating above her head extended its fist.

[Let’s see if you can block this one too.]

The sound of the armor cutting through the air was quite intimidating, likely due to its heavy weight.

Just as I was about to block the fist Sophia had launched, Lizanis leaped out from behind me and extended both hands, shouting:

“Did you think I’d just hide meekly in the back?!”

Lizanis blocked the armor’s fist with a loud thud echoing around us. Using my shield as a wall to support himself, he managed to stop the punch.

Then, I heard him straining with all his might.

Soon, the armor’s fist began to dent slightly.

Seeing this, Sophia opened her mouth as if impressed.

[You certainly have remarkable strength.]

“I’ve always been confident in my strength!”

Lizanis shouted with a smile.

“I am! The great! Lizardman warrior!!”

Shouting this, Lizanis slowly lifted the fist.

Then, with all his might, he slammed the arm into the ground, burying the armor’s arm in the earth.

Though temporary, one arm of the massive armor was immobilized.

Not missing this opportunity, I quickly changed my weapon to a halberd and charged forward.

‘…It’s a bit uncomfortable, but.’

I steeled myself against the instinctive weakness I felt facing that face so similar to Sera’s.

If I showed weakness here, the real Sera and everyone else could get hurt.

That was something I couldn’t allow. With that thought, I raised my halberd with all my strength.

[…Danger.]

Sophia immediately began moving her arm.

As if matching her movements, the massive armor moved its other arm to block the halberd.

My descending halberd and the giant armor’s arm collided with a loud crash.

The sound of the armor’s arm denting under my full-strength blow echoed.

‘Still couldn’t break it, huh.’

It might have been possible if I had drawn on the dragon’s power, but doing so would kill me, so it couldn’t be helped.

Clicking my tongue slightly, I tried to retreat immediately, but Sophia quickly extended her hand.

[I won’t let you escape.]

As if prepared in advance, chains extended from the armor’s hand portion.

Five chains flew toward me, and though I managed to deflect some, one chain began wrapping around my halberd.

[I’ll be confiscating that.]

And immediately my halberd began being pulled toward the armor.

I quickly gripped it tightly and pulled back, causing a creaking sound from the armor’s fingers.

I managed to avoid losing my weapon momentarily.

However, this created another problem.

[Your legs have stopped moving for a moment.]

Sophia was targeting me while I couldn’t move because I was gripping the halberd.

Just as I was trying to think of a way to dodge, Eve’s voice rang out:

“Kay, down and to the right diagonal!”

At Eve’s command, I quickly released my weapon and rolled.

A large ice spike flew toward where I had just been standing and passed by.

Sophia’s expression twisted slightly as she looked at me, showing what might have been emotion, and I saw something flying toward her.

As I rolled once more, a bomb thrown by Sera exploded above Sophia’s head.

Then, perhaps at Eve’s direction, Noah leaped forward with his sword drawn back.

He swung his sword at Sophia, who was partially obscured by smoke.

-Clang!

The sound of metal striking metal rang out.

I saw Noah narrowing his eyes and quickly retreating.

Meanwhile, I also created distance and ran back toward my companions. By the time my weapon returned to my hand, the smoke surrounding Sophia began to clear.

[I didn’t expect you to aim precisely for my neck through that smoke. I’ll have to adjust my threat assessment upward.]

Sophia muttered while touching her neck.

Then she smiled at me.

[But unfortunately, I’m not made of material that’s easily cut by swords.]

“Your body is made of metal.”

With a sound of affirmation, Sophia slightly rubbed her arm.

With a scraping sound, a silvery body was partially revealed.

[The strategy of pretending to be made of ordinary material while actually being metal. I devised it myself.]

“…A golem that came up with such a strategy.”

Perhaps Maria Medimaker had thought of it in advance, but if not, that would mean the golem had devised this strategy herself.

A metal golem that could think for itself and even use magic.

No wonder she had the confidence to call herself strong.

Perhaps if other mages or scholars were here, they might proclaim this the invention of the century.

‘If Beatrice or Chris were here, it would have been easier to deal with her.’

Their absence was keenly felt. With those two, we might have had more options in attack or defense.

But since our opponent had deliberately separated us, they wouldn’t be joining us at a convenient time.

With that level of intelligence, she would surely have taken measures to prevent them from easily reuniting with us.

‘She probably thought it would be easy to deal with us without those two.’

Since our side was relatively focused on physical strength, it was true that Sophia, being a golem who could also use magic, had an advantage against us.

The fact that she didn’t further divide us probably meant she thought she could handle all of us alone. And perhaps she was also preserving some special means to deal with mages and clerics.

‘I’m not sure whether to call her prudent or arrogant for a golem.’

She was truly a troublesome opponent.

‘But looking at it differently, this might be our best chance to take her down.’

If she did have means to counter mages and clerics, there was a good chance she wasn’t fighting at full strength now.

If she had measures specifically for dealing with mages and clerics, she’d want to preserve those until she faced them.

Those measures might work against us too, but if she used them carelessly here and we managed to destroy them, she wouldn’t be able to use them against the three people who were likely following behind us.

From Sophia’s perspective, more troublesome enemies were coming.

If she needed to save her cards for those opponents while dealing with us…

‘There’s a gap we can exploit.’

Though I didn’t know exactly what her means were, I needed to finish this fight in a situation where she was likely not using all her resources.

I steeled myself and looked at Sophia.

Seeing me, Sophia smiled slightly and said:

[Seems you’ve formulated a plan.]

“Nothing elaborate.”

I pointed my halberd at Sophia.

Sophia nodded and took a combat stance.

[Here I come.]

The next moment, Sophia appeared right beside me.

As soon as she extended her hand, a magic circle appeared, and I quickly ducked to move out of the line of fire.

The heat of flames transferred through my armor, but I managed to dodge.

Just as I was about to strike Sophia with my halberd, I saw her moving her other hand.

And slightly before that, Eve’s voice rang out:

“Right arm, block it!”

“How dare you!!!”

With Lizanis’s shout, a dull thud was heard.

It seemed Lizanis had blocked the arm that was trying to strike my back.

Thanks to that, my halberd swung toward Sophia without any interference, and I saw Sophia frowning slightly as she leaned into the blow.

With a thud, Sophia’s body cracked slightly.

But it wasn’t a fatal wound, as Sophia grabbed the halberd.

And I felt a strong pull as she tried to take the halberd from me.

[I may look like this, but I’m still a golem. I’m confident in my strength.]

My center of gravity shifted slightly as my body was pulled toward Sophia.

However, when I also applied force to pull back on the halberd, we ended up in a tug-of-war with the halberd between us.

Sophia’s expression changed slightly, perhaps because I was holding my ground better than she expected, and she began moving her arm again.

But someone moved even faster.

“If it’s hard to cut with a sword…”

I saw Noah quickly pass by me and attach himself to the giant armor’s left arm.

While clinging to the moving left arm, he attached something to it, then jumped away saying:

“The alchemist was curious what would happen if we just attached explosives and detonated them.”

“Explode!”

As soon as Noah retreated to a safe distance, Sera immediately shouted.

A loud explosion rang out, and a hole was blown in the left arm of Sophia’s giant armor.

As the left arm began to fall off, unable to support its weight, Sophia strained and shouted:

[…The explosion was directed to one side…!]

“I modified it to pierce holes, and it’s working well!”

Sera shouted confidently while moving her staff.

“Now get away from Kay!”

Soon the ground beneath Sophia began turning into a swamp.

Perhaps because she was heavier than she looked, being a golem, Sophia began sinking into the swamp.

Then suddenly a large rock emerged from the swamp and struck Sophia, sending her flying and causing her to lose her grip on the halberd.

“Got it!”

“Next is…”

[Let’s see if you can block this too.]

I heard Sera’s voice and Eve’s voice faintly, followed by Sophia’s voice.

Then a loud thud was heard.

The armor floating above Sophia’s head disassembled and began flying toward us.

The obviously heavy armor began falling toward our heads.

A rock emerged from the ground, seemingly summoned by Sera, and began supporting the armor. Fortunately, the armor that was falling toward our heads stopped in mid-air.

But Sophia apparently had more tricks up her sleeve.

[Summon.]

Sophia regained her posture in mid-air and pointed her staff toward us, creating multiple magic circles in the air.

Soon, boulders began falling from the magic circles, and the armor started making terrifying sounds.

It seemed she was trying to force the armor down to crush us.

With no choice, I looked back and shouted:

“Lizanis!”

“As much as needed!!”

Lizanis came running, sweating slightly.

Soon he began supporting the armor with a battle cry.

Sera and I also rushed in to support the armor, and the falling armor, being hit by rocks, began to hold with us as its support.

[You’re holding up well.]

Sophia’s voice was heard amid the heavy impacts on the armor.

[But in that state, you’ll soon be crushed. I can crush you within 2 minutes.]

Sophia said with a laughing voice from the air.

[It’s been fun. If there’s a next time, let’s meet again.]

It was a voice confident in victory.

To such a Sophia, I said:

“So I have 2 minutes, you say.”

Despite sweating, I grinned and said:

“Look behind you.”

At first, Sophia looked down at me as if wondering what I was talking about.

But soon, as if sensing something amiss, she turned her head.

And she discovered Eve falling from directly above her.

[When did…]

“When you tried to push over the armor earlier.”

Eve, who was sprinkling the powder Sera had used earlier to reduce falling speed, glared at Sophia and said:

“I didn’t like it, but I asked that woman to throw me.”

While Sophia was momentarily distracted by Sera’s attack, Eve had made her move first.

Sophia quickly extended her staff for defense, and Eve immediately struck the staff with her sword.

As if she had anticipated this, Eve easily deflected it and positioned herself for a follow-up attack.

[I’ve been read…]

Sophia looked at Eve in surprise.

And Eve, preparing a thrusting stance, said:

“Fall.”

Eve’s sword struck Sophia’s neck.

Though even Eve’s sword couldn’t penetrate Sophia’s neck, the impact was enough to send her falling to the ground.

Unlike Eve, who was falling slowly thanks to Sera’s tool, Sophia crashed straight to the ground.

And that location was exactly opposite from where we were.

It was the spot where the armor would fall if pushed over.

Noticing the shadow looming over her, Sophia’s eyes widened.

[Emergency evasion…]

Magic circles extended from Sophia’s body, perhaps in an attempt to fly away urgently.

But simultaneously, strings of light extended from the ground and bound Sophia.

[…Paper?]

“That’s right!”

Sera shouted, somehow now holding an open book in one hand.

While Eve was attacking Sophia in mid-air, she had secretly torn a few pages and sent them in the opposite direction.

Sophia’s eyes began to glow.

[Analysis termination, attempting severance through magical light for emergency evasion. Escape…]

“Too late!”

I felt Sera putting more force into the armor.

With all my might, I pushed the armor as well.

Gradually, the armor began tilting toward Sophia, and her gaze, which had been focused on breaking free, turned upward.

Toward her, who was too shocked to speak, I quietly said:

“In that state, you’ll soon be crushed.”

[Wait…]

I pushed the armor with all my strength.

Toward the falling armor and the surprised Sophia, I grinned and said:

“I’ll crush you within 2 minutes.”

[Wai…]

Sophia tried to say something.

But faster than her words…

With a loud thud, Sophia’s body was crushed under the armor.