Golem And Dangerous!

◈

The next day.

After eating breakfast with a lot of chewing sounds, Luna-noona and I headed straight to the Adventurer’s Guild.

In Kellion, we would have trained first, but… when you come to a new city, you naturally want to take on quests!

New quests!

The quest board at the Adventurer’s Guild.

Like other adventurers, Luna-noona and I searched the quest board to decide what quest to take.

Unlike Kellion, which had many herbs around, Gallio had many rocky areas, so herb gathering quests actually offered higher rewards than expected.

But since we’d done a lot of herb gathering in Kellion…

This time we decided to take on a quest appropriate for our rank.

And so we decided on golem subjugation.

In this world, golems are formed when special ore called mana stones accumulate a certain amount of magical energy underground and use themselves as cores to transform into golems.

Therefore, in Gallio, which is a rocky region, golems naturally inhabit the area in large numbers.

Plus, the mana stones that become golem cores sell quite well compared to their rank, which is why many C-rank and above adventurers are found in Gallio.

After deciding on our quest, we went to Ms. Dendeli and said:

“We’ll take this quest.”

“Golem subjugation, I see. Understood. Ah, have you purchased new equipment?”

“I’m a healer, so… But I have some equipment in mind that I’ll buy later.”

“Um, well. I-I think our c-current equipment should be f-fine for now.”

Luna-noona didn’t buy a new dagger yesterday either.

Well, she’s taken down plenty of other C-rank adventurers with her current dagger.

If we notice the blade getting damaged while hunting, we can buy a new one then.

“I understand. Alright. Golems have mana stones that can be sold, but we’ll also process the rocks that form the golem’s body if you bring them back. If you need, we can lend you a cart—what would you like to do?”

“Hmm~ Since it’s our first day, let’s just try without it today. That’s good with you too, right, Luna-noona?”

“Y-yes! L-let’s do that.”

“Understood. I wish you success with your quest.”

Ms. Dendeli bowed her head politely.

Like Celine, guild receptionists all seem to be kind-hearted.

◈

“Crash Hammer!”

Kwaaang!

“Genocide Blade!”

Swish!

The golem habitat near Gallio where golems commonly appear.

Besides us, various other adventurers were hunting golems there.

“Urgggh!”

“Damn… you idiot! That’s why I said we should bring a cart! Shi… so heavy…”

“I don’t care! Just move it quicklyyyy! Urgggh!”

Besides people actively hunting, there were also adventurers carrying heavy rocks or mana stones after hunting.

Unlike goblins or orcs where you collect just a few trophies after subjugation,

with golems, the entire body is essentially a trophy.

It seems they want to take as much as possible with them.

“J-Jin-sang. Should we j-just get a c-cart?”

“No, let’s just defeat one first since we’re already here, and then decide!”

Golem subjugation doesn’t have a specific limit on the number to defeat.

Meaning we can hunt just one if we want.

Let’s decide after seeing how heavy the mana stone is.

“Hmm, but there are quite a lot of people here. Let’s go a bit further!”

“O-okay!”

Luna-noona and I walked deeper into the golem habitat area.

As we went further in, the frequency of adventurers decreased significantly.

Well, seeing how heavy those rocks and mana stones look.

They probably want to minimize the distance they have to carry them.

But! I! Just by carrying!

With infinite stamina recovery, it’s no problem for me!

Thump… thump… The golems were walking around here and there.

But I wonder if golems have some level of intelligence?

Watching them, they didn’t just walk into each other.

“Noona, let’s hunt that golem over there.”

“Y-yes! O-okay, Jin-sang!”

“Yes!”

I immediately climbed onto Luna-noona’s back and said:

“Rather than just hitting the rocky parts recklessly… aim for the joints! Target the joints! Cut through the seams to bring it down!”

“O-okay!”

Tadadadadak!

Luna-noona nodded at my words and immediately kicked off the ground.

The golem we were targeting seemed to sense our approach and slowly turned its body, but.

“Flame Burst!”

Before it could fully turn, Luna-noona’s technique struck.

High-speed consecutive slashes as she moved around the golem, rushing at it multiple times.

Following my advice, Luna-noona cut the small rock sections connecting the joints.

Kugugung!

The golem’s body, with all its limb joints cut, fell to the ground like a roly-poly toy.

“Huff… huff…!”

“Stamina Heal!”

As soon as she finished her technique, I immediately restored Luna-noona’s stamina.

“Yahoo! Subjugation!”

If it can’t move, it’s as good as subjugated!

“We did it, Luna-noona!”

“Y-yes! Ah! J-Jin-sang! O-other golems are c-coming!”

Perhaps sensing the impact of the fallen golem’s body,

other nearby golems were turning toward us and gathering.

“Luna-noona, is your dagger blade okay?”

“Y-yes! It’s f-fine! P-perfectly fine!”

Fortunately, the dagger blade wasn’t damaged.

In that case… it’s farming time!

“Luna-noona! Let’s take care of the rest too! Go, go, go!”

“G-go, go!”

◈

A little while later.

Luna-noona and I had dealt with all the golems that approached us.

After confirming the area was safe and casting more magic on Luna-noona, I spoke to her.

“Good job, Luna-noona! Even golems are nothing when they run into our strongest combo.”

“Y-yes! J-Jin-sang and I are the s-strongest combo!”

“Now let’s collect the mana stones!”

I climbed onto one of the fallen golems.

Golems are basically formed of rock, but in the center of their bodies, a roughly set blue mana stone serves as the core.

Of course, targeting this area would make it easier to defeat a golem,

but that wouldn’t be profitable, so unless it’s really an emergency, people usually don’t attack this part.

That’s what I learned from overhearing adventurers chatting at nearby tables while we were eating at the restaurant yesterday.

By the way, properly collecting this mana stone involves breaking or cutting the rock around it.

So I climbed onto the golem, gripped my spear, and:

“Eyayayayayaya!”

Kakakakakakang!

I repeatedly stabbed around the mana stone with my spear.

Ugh! Stabbing stone sends vibrations up my arm.

After continuing to stab several times, the surrounding area broke to some extent.

Of course, if I just recklessly stabbed the solid rock, my spear tip would break,

but the mana stone seems to wrap surrounding rocks around itself and only fix the seams, so it was fine to use a spear.

After separating the seam between the mana stone and the rock, I lifted the mana stone, which was a bit smaller than a dodge ball.

It’s surprisingly heavy?

“Luna-noona! Catch this!”

“O-okay, Jin-sang!”

After lying down and extending the mana stone toward the ground, Luna-noona below received it.

And after repeating this process.

Luna-noona and I stuffed the rocks into our backpacks.

“Ugh! H-heavy…!”

With five surprisingly heavy mana stones in my bag, it weighed quite a lot.

If I were the me who just arrived in this world, I would never have been able to carry this weight.

But now I can wear it and walk… hehe, I’ve grown too!

A sense of pride warmed my chest.

“J-Jin-sang. S-should I carry it?”

“No, it’s fine. I should handle this much. Now! Let’s return to Gallio…”

That’s when it happened.

Kruguguguguk

There was a heavy splitting sound from the ground, and then.

A gray golem made of what appeared to be very solid rock, unlike the usual yellowish-brown ones, emerged from the ground.

“Huh? What’s that?”

“G-gray g-golem… p-perhaps a s-special variant?”

Special variant.

The Ogre Champion we fought before was also a special variant that could speak human language.

And this gray golem that suddenly appeared.

It was clearly giving off an aura of “I’m different from other golems.”

Which means…

“That looks like it would sell for a lot, doesn’t it?”

“R-really?”

“It obviously looks like a special variant. It’s bound to be more expensive! If we defeat that, we can eat more delicious food!”

“Delicious food… g-golden carrots!”

Luna-noona always loves golden carrots.

That’s cute too!

Ah, then I should put down my backpack.

It would be heavy for Luna-noona if I cling to her back with this.

I was about to put down my bag.

But Luna-noona stopped me.

“J-Jin-sang! I’ll h-handle this myself. S-stay here!”

“Huh? I’ll just put this down and climb on your back. That way your stamina will recover faster too.”

“N-no! Jin-sang is c-carrying a heavy b-bag! And…”

“And?”

“I w-want to show you h-how cool I can be, d-defeating a monster w-without you on my back.”

Luna-noona gripped the cloth near her stomach tightly.

“Luna-noona…”

I could roughly guess Luna-noona’s feelings.

Sometimes you want to show off cool moves to your companion.

I sometimes want to show Luna-noona how cool I can be, defeating monsters by myself without just healing too.

“I-is that not okay?”

“No! I want to see Luna-noona’s cool moves too! Show me!”

“O-okay! W-watch me from h-here!”

Luna-noona nodded her head vigorously, then turned around and ran toward where the gray golem was.

“Yaaaaaaah! Flame Burst!”

Luna-noona seemed full of enthusiasm about showing me her cool side, shouting loudly as she used her technique.

Kakakakakakang!

Luna-noona moved at high speed, attacking the joint parts of the gray golem.

From a distance, Luna-noona really looks fast… wait?

Why aren’t the golem’s limbs separating…

Jjang-gang!

There was an ominous sound.

“Ah…”

And after using all her technique, Luna-noona.

Stared at her broken dagger.

“M-my daggerrrrr!”

Luna-noona screamed in shock at her broken dagger.

But I couldn’t just focus on that.

Because I saw the gray golem turning its body toward Luna-noona,

lifting its heavy arm, clearly intending to strike her.

“L-Luna-noonaaaa!”

Quickly putting down my backpack, I ran with all my might toward Luna-noona, who was exhausted and couldn’t move.

Wooooooooooooh!!!