Ch.85Chapter 85. Totem Golem (5)

Chapter 85. Totem Golem (5)

I occasionally checked behind me while one-sidedly beating down the centipede infectees.

I wasn’t even adjusting my pace to let my followers keep up.

Kirrr…

Seeing they couldn’t handle it, the creatures scattered in all directions.

Only after more than half of them were crushed did they start fleeing. Being insect bastards, they’re slow to make decisions.

– Don’t chase them.

It would be troublesome to follow and kill them all, so I decided to let them go for now.

The magic stone is the priority.

– We’ll come back later for extermination.

Now that I know the entrance is narrow but spacious inside, I can send warriors.

A few hundred armed warriors should be able to annihilate them without casualties.

By the way, this cave… it’s wide enough to be called a dungeon.

The treasure map—or rather, magic stone map—that Beatrice gave me didn’t indicate it was this spacious. It only mentioned that it was deep.

Well, 200 years have passed, so things must have changed. Or perhaps the centipede infectees came and dug more tunnels after the paladin left.

I went all the way to the end of the cave where the magic stone was supposed to be stored.

Ah, I can see a chest. It’s about three times larger than an average coffin.

I opened the chest and checked the magic stone. For something that had been here for 200 years, it was preserved in quite good condition.

Probably thanks to the special properties of the cave.

– I’ll carry it.

There’s no one in the Golden Sun tribe as strong as Lakye or Kanto.

I lifted the chest and tried to mount it on SolidHeavy’s back…

Urgh…!

Hmm. He’s struggling. Seems he can’t carry the magic stone.

This kid, he’s just solid and heavy but has no strength. No different from a fat pig.

After getting off his back, I hoisted the chest onto my shoulder and walked.

Totem golems are basically work golems. They can easily handle about 200kg.

I looked at my followers. All five seemed quite tired.

The enhancement tattoo blessing has ended, so they’re probably not much different from slightly trained ordinary people now.

– You may ride on this one.

I offered SolidHeavy to the followers who had been watching our backs.

“Ah… thank you.”

Grace, making a sour face at SolidHeavy’s ferocious appearance, was the last to climb on.

His back was so wide that even with five people, there was still room left.

I came out of the cave with the magic stone.

Hmm. Since there’s nothing to do on the way back, maybe I’ll check the community.

[UsingPresidentialPower: Princess Dina! Watch me defeat the demons!] (1)

[CorruptPowerKnight: Mages who have reached a certain level can block demons’ coordinate transmissions] (7)

[Valkyria: Brothers~ Here’s Kyuria’s dinner tonight~!] (12)

[TrustedMonkeyUncle: But how do you get mage companions? Do they come from gacha rolls?] (5)

Nothing special.

Oh. The user who boasted about driving away magic energy and planting trees has posted something new.

Let me check this out.

[EvenWildflowers: Um, this is embarrassing but

I haven’t eaten anything for two days.

I’m really hungry…

Could anyone share some food?]

This person is in trouble too.

Wondering if I could help, I checked the comments.

– Comments –

[Bramanda: Where do you live? Don’t say it here, send me a private message]

The reply came an hour later.

It seems they talked about the important stuff in private messages.

ㄴ [EvenWildflowers: Thank you so much! I’ll bring some seeds when you come!]

ㄴ [Bramanda: Don’t worry about it. I’m coming because you’re close by. Fellow Earthlings should help each other]

That’s a relief. It was resolved well.

Bramanda. He’s the friend of Abraham, the level 7 paladin who died from the cloud demon in Tibera.

He tried to stop Abraham but failed.

When Siwoo attempted suicide, he cheered on Princess Dina saying he couldn’t bear to see more users die, and when Charon was driven out of the community after receiving insults about his father, he thanked me.

Seeing him trying to save another user, well, how should I put it?

It feels like true “love for humanity.”

A movie quote comes to mind.

Was it “Saving what we love is more important than destroying what we hate”?

Ironically, I remember that movie itself became an object of hatred and received destructive criticism.

Well, whatever. As long as the meaning is good.

I returned to the Golden Sun tribe headquarters, receiving embarrassingly lavish praise from the warriors.

“I’m glad to be living in Malak’s era!”

At this point, they’re practically compliment generators.

I placed the chest containing the magic stone on the altar.

“The holy… of Malak who descended to this land for our weak people…”

With Priest Bojak’s murmuring, the chest was delivered to Totem No. 1 in Symphonia.

My mission at the Golden Sun tribe is complete.

I turned my head and looked at each person of this tribe, my followers.

Barbarians and civilized people, adults and children, warriors and men and women.

Some wore solemn expressions, others smiled with satisfaction.

Who could see them as mere NPCs in a game?

– I’m proud of you all.

I’m not really a god, nor am I their parent, but that’s how I felt.

I was grateful that they didn’t lose hope in this desperate situation and that they relied on me.

They probably don’t need emotional words or sermons.

– If you need anything, just pray anytime. I’ll send it through the altar.

A cool man doesn’t speak at length. I stepped onto the altar without looking back.

“We will await your return, great Roah.”

There’s a sound of knees hitting the ground.

Ah, now I have to look back.

Chief Tur said that while kneeling, and soon everyone knelt down.

The sight of people rippling like waves is quite impressive.

While everyone was kneeling with their heads bowed, Grace had her hands clasped together with her eyes closed.

– …

“This feels more familiar to me.”

When I looked at her questioningly, Grace opened her eyes slightly and smiled.

I was startled. I thought she was going to provoke me by praying to Ishtania again.

After waving my hand a few times, I transferred my consciousness to Totem No. 1.

I could see metal golems transporting the magic stone and Harry fiddling with the golem controller.

– How is it?

“The overall condition is good. We can use all of it.”

That’s a relief.

– How many more do we need to collect?

I asked how many more magic stones we needed to move the giant god.

“We’ll need to collect at least eleven more.”

So we need to recover most of the magic stones that Beatrice left behind?

This is maddening.

The giant god is a complete magic stone-eating machine.

Hah. But if it eats enough magic stones, it should be able to take down two or three high-ranking demons on its own, right?

If not, our tribal alliance is bankrupt.

No, not even bankruptcy.

If the giant god can’t defeat the shadow demon, we’re finished here.

– Do we really need that many?

“That’s the minimum requirement to keep it moving for at least five hours.”

Since there’s quite a distance from Polaris to Symphonia, we need to account for the time it takes for the giant god to run here.

Five hours… I guess we need at least that much.

Well, Harry probably knows better than I do about these things.

– I understand.

Above all, today’s work isn’t over yet.

There’s a knock at the door.

– Come in.

Rachel entered the conference room with a civilized warrior.

This is the conference room in Symphonia that serves as both the lord’s chamber and the location of my altar.

“I heard you had returned and came to see you.”

Rachel greeted me with a respectful bow.

– Is it important? If not, just get to the point.

I’m planning to rest a bit before going to search for more magic stones.

“I’ll get straight to the point.”

Rachel has been monitoring the shadow demon’s movements using scouts.

She says she borrowed scouts with permission from Denzo, who’s commanding the warriors in Kanto’s absence while he’s out on an extermination mission.

“The shadow demon is steadily spreading magic energy and approaching Symphonia.”

More than a third of Tibera, where the demon is located, has been swallowed by magic energy.

It’s faster than I expected. Spreading magic energy must be its specialty.

The process of transforming a non-Earth planet to make it similar to Earth’s environment or ecosystem so humans can live there is called terraforming.

What the shadow demon is doing now is similar—devilforming… that sounds tacky.

Anyway, this demon must be a high-ranking one optimized for such work.

“At this rate, it will cross Symphonia’s regional boundary within a month.”

One month. The time limit is now clear.

We need to collect all the magic stones within 30 days and awaken the giant god sleeping in the underground laboratory in Polaris.

– I understand. Thanks for the information.

“Then I’ll take my leave.”

Hah, this cursed world doesn’t give even a moment’s respite.

– Call Priest Paya.

I asked one of the warriors guarding the altar.

“Understood!”

Before going to the Golden Sun tribe, the priest of the Gray Mist tribe had informed me that they had completed their totem.

Let’s retrieve their magic stone first.

“Malak! Did you call for me?”

Paya entered the conference room.

– I’m planning to go to the Gray Mist tribe.

In Linea, where the Gray Mist tribe is located, lives MorningTentSetupKnight, a community user that Princess Dina and I saved.

Let’s go check if Siwoo is doing well.