Ch.60Vulcan’s Giant God Soldier (1)

“No way. How could we possibly win against that?”

“Huh?”

“What…?”

Leaving Lilly and Kitsune behind me with their dumbfounded reactions, I stared at Vulcan’s Titan that had approached right in front of us.

Vulcan’s Titan was wearing armor made entirely of orichalcum. The pure white yet iridescent glow it emitted looked mystical.

Those armor pieces were each touched by Vulcan’s own hands. I doubted whether I could even scratch it, let alone cut through it with my current abilities.

‘Surely… when I defeated this thing, my stats were… over 500 in strength, constitution, and agility…?’

My strength had even approached 600, making it one of my highest-leveled characters.

I remembered barely defeating it with that character by using every possible trait, skill, and item at my disposal.

One might think a mere golem shouldn’t be this powerful, but this was Vulcan’s personally crafted ultimate weapon.

Not just a weapon, but an ultimate weapon.

And that meant this Titan was designed to be even stronger than Vulcan himself.

In the game where information about the Evil God was deliberately blocked, I couldn’t figure out what this thing was meant for.

‘I thought it was for all-out war against other gods.’

Now that the Evil God’s existence had been revealed, it was clear this was a weapon created to fight against the Evil God.

And even with this weapon, the gods fought against the Evil God and ended up with something close to a defeat or a draw.

‘It’s frustrating that I can’t even grasp how powerful this Evil God really is…’

I was worried whether I could defeat the Evil God even if I completed my growth according to plan.

While I was contemplating the Evil God’s strength, Lilly, who was staring at the Titan beside me, pulled my head.

I had already explained our battle strategy, but I hadn’t explained anything else.

“So… would you mind quickly telling us the method you know besides direct combat? That thing’s gaze doesn’t look good…”

“It… looks like it’s about to attack us!”

Hearing their trembling voices, I looked up again to see the Titan staring at me with glowing red eyes, ready to draw its weapon.

[Speak. Are you an intruder?]

“Of course not.”

[Then what is your purpose for visiting this place?]

I had said I wasn’t an intruder, but that alone wouldn’t resolve the situation. The Titan continued questioning me without relaxing its stance.

“I came here to take the weapon trial.”

[…]

Kuuung-

As soon as I finished speaking, the Titan’s red glow turned yellow. It seemed the issue of us being potential intruders was resolved.

Its posture also changed from an attack stance to a more natural state as it looked at us.

[A challenger.]

[The weapon trial seems difficult to pass with your current abilities.]

[If you still wish to challenge, follow me.]

Thud. Thud.

Having said its piece, it turned around and started walking away. It seemed to not care whether we followed or not.

Though its pace wasn’t particularly fast, its large size meant the distance between us grew quickly with just a few steps.

If we stayed still, we would obviously lose sight of the Titan as it disappeared into the distance.

“Shall we follow it then?”

“Huh? Yes!”

I took care of the stiff Kitsune and followed the Titan that was moving ahead with loud footsteps.

* * *

Following the Titan inside, we were greeted by an enormous cavern.

The ceiling was so high that even if the Titan in front of us jumped, it wouldn’t reach it. The width was so vast that I would be out of breath running from one end to the other.

And this massive cavern was filled with traces of explosions and burn marks.

One might think these were all traces of battle, but that wasn’t the case.

While this place was now used for weapon trials, its original purpose was to test weapons.

Those marks were all traces of experiments with weapons directly created by Vulcan.

[You didn’t run away…]

[Is that courage or recklessness?]

“Well, I’m not sure which of the two it is. If I had to say, I’d call it confidence. Confidence in victory.”

[Good. Then show me the basis for that confidence.]

Hearing my answer, the Titan seemed satisfied and began putting on iron armor that was hanging on one side of the wall.

Despite already having an armor-like body, putting on additional armor made its movements look uncomfortable and somewhat sluggish.

The reason wasn’t that Vulcan had designed it poorly. It was deliberately designed as a restraint for the test.

[The content of the test is simple.]

[Before you die, you must destroy all the armor I’m wearing.]

[If you want to run away, now is your last chance.]

The Titan’s gaze was directed at me as it said this. What was contained in that gaze was pity for someone about to die.

At such a gaze, I smiled mockingly and said:

“If I was scared enough to run away, I wouldn’t have come down here in the first place.”

[I see. It was an unnecessary warning then.]

That was the end of the conversation.

The Titan took a combat stance, and so did I.

The battle would begin in a few seconds. During that brief time, I quickly briefed my companions.

“Kitsune, please continuously bind the Titan. Prepare barriers that increase gravity.”

“Understood.”

We had actually discussed the plan on our way here. So this was more like confirming the plan we had already established.

“Lilly, please destroy the Titan’s armor while I hold it off.”

“Wouldn’t it be better if I took the front line?”

“If you have to defend as well, you won’t have enough energy left to destroy all the armor. This is the right approach.”

This weapon trial was literally a test. The attack patterns were always predetermined, and it wouldn’t attack anyone except the vanguard.

So I could compensate for my lack of strength with experience and knowledge as always.

Thud. Thud. Thud.

The Titan that had been watching us from a distance approached with heavy footsteps, and when the distance was sufficiently narrowed, it moved toward me as if sliding.

‘The first attack is a slide.’

Kwagagak.

With the sound of something heavy scraping the ground, the Titan attacked with its legs while sliding.

It was a fast and powerful attack, but since I already knew it was coming, I had moved away from the impact point long ago.

[…Your movements are good.]

“It’s not just about movement though.”

[That too must be part of your ability.]

Even during this brief exchange, neither the Titan nor I stopped moving.

The Titan, whether aware of being a golem or not, balanced itself on two arms and one leg with a flexible body and kicked at me as I dodged into the air.

It was a posture commonly known as a scissor kick.

Kagagak.

But that kick never reached me. Due to the extra armor the Titan was wearing, the range of the kick was reduced.

“I would have been hit normally, but with the extra armor, you can’t get the right angle.”

[I see. You calculated this far.]

The Titan tried to quickly readjust its posture, but I was faster.

I drove my sword energy into its leg and landed on the ground while cutting through part of the leg armor.

Completely cutting through it was beyond my sword energy’s capability, but I could still make partial damage.

And during this time, Lilly wasn’t idle.

Lilly summoned a gale in this enclosed space and unleashed attacks on the Titan, and the results quickly began to show.

“One shoulder pauldron destroyed!!”

[I see… I should apologize to that fairy later.]

As soon as I landed on the ground, the Titan regained its original posture and struck the ground with both arms.

Kuuung-

The impact was so strong that a thunderous sound echoed throughout the cavern and the ground shook with vibration. It was an attempt to break my balance.

“But I’ve seen this too.”

I teleported onto the arm that had struck the ground and swung my sword from the destroyed pauldron area down to the elbow.

Originally, with my current lack of attack power, I had planned to focus on evasion, but I got a hint from Cecilia’s words.

‘If this works on the same principle as the Draconic Tongue, it should be possible.’

The sword wrapped in sword energy. And matching the speed of the swinging sword, I opened my mouth.

“Cut.”

I felt a sensation of five times the amount of mana I had intended to use for sword energy disappearing in a lump.

Seoguk-

And simultaneously, the armor that could only be scratched until now was sliced through as easily as cutting tofu.