Chapter 78: The Ancient Golems, Part 2

Idmon: "(t) Move!"

I ordered the others to move as fast as they could to approach the golems.

Bon: "I don't feel magic power coming from them anymore. That blast from them must have a cooldown."

Idmon: "Let's use this time to take them out!"

We used the same strategy as before. Bon and Lina would distract the other golem and preferably disable it while I baited the other golem to attack and countered him to destroy its core.

I quickly approached one of the golems and stopped right in front of it.

As expected, it tried to punch me with its massive arms, so I dodged past it and attacked the core.

!

Magic Golem: "Guha..."

With a groan, it fell.

Lina: "!"

Bon was the bait on their side and drew the attention of the golem.

When it tried to attack Bon, Lina used that time to approach and freeze its hand.

Granpa: "Take this!"

Granpa had already retrieved his battleaxe from a fallen golem earlier and took the opportunity to throw it at the magic golem's exposed core.

It hit!

Magic Golem: "Guh..."

Two of the magic golems are down.

Bon: "A is coming from behind us!"

Bon sensed another golem preparing for their blast attack.

There's no time for their group to dodge. None of them have skills to improve their dash and dodge speed.

Lina: "NO!"

Lina froze her body again with

!

A spell? How did she manage to do that?

Boom!

A lot of smoke and dust rose after the blast hit, covering my vision.

Idmon: "(t) Lina! Are you okay?"

Lina: "I managed to hold on."

Once the dust cleared, I saw that her ice shield withstood the attacks from the magic golems.

Bon: "Amazing. Does this mean the anti-magic gem is not all-powerful?"

I also thought about that.

If it drains all magic power and negative energy, our bodies won't sustain themselves.

We would crumble.

More magic golems popped up, but we were careful and took them out.

With Lina being able to cast some of her magic, it became easier for us.

The golems were following a basic attack pattern. They would shoot if the enemy was far away, and if someone came close, they would switch to melee fighting.

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Once we realized this, the likelihood of the golems hitting us decreased significantly.

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(Hos POV)

Hos: "Oh... She finally realized it. There is more power to be brought out within her. I can't believe that it would come out voluntarily when her body is in danger."

Hos was now looking at a different set of buttons.

Before this, he was pressing the buttons to release the Basic Golems and Magic Golems.

Hos: "How about we make it even more challenging?"

A grin appeared on the face of Hos, the Creator. However, his helmet obscured it, and no one nearby could see it.

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(Idmon POV)

The attacks have stopped for a few minutes.

Idmon: "Lina, can you try healing Granpa's bones?"

Lina tried to control negative energy, but she failed.

Lina: "The only magic I can use is Ice Magic, and when I use it now, it doesn't seem to come directly from my magic power. It feels like the source is coming from somewhere else."

Bon: "Could it be that you are someone much more important than a simple ghost from a burned village?"

Lina: "I... I wouldn't know. I never saw my father, but my mother was always with me. I couldn't remember much of my childhood, but I remember something like me being stuck in a cave."

Lina tries hard to recall her memories, but she seems to have difficulties.

Lina: "Argh!"

Her head hurts when she tries to remember her past forcefully.

Idmon: "(t) It's okay. Don't force yourself. We will know the reason behind it in time. First, we need to utilize her power to get past this challenge."

Lina: "Thank you."

She looks relieved and tired at the same time.

Bon: "Lord Idmon, I've been trying to find a way to bring out negative energy."

Idmon: "(t) Is it possible?"

Bon: "While fighting, I was actually trying to pour some of the negative energy inside me into this quarterstaff that I took from Hos."

He showed the quarterstaff to me and felt a small amount of negative energy inside it.

Bon: "It's a bit tricky, but these weapons given to us might be the key to drawing out our power."

Being able to draw out power even after someone is suppressing it. It's something that could come out of a myth.

Bon: "Let me try it on you, Granpa."

Granpa: "Go ahead."

He gently tapped Granpa with a quarterstaff and tried to pour his negative energy into him.

Granpa: "I think it's working."

After a few seconds, the cracks in Granpa's bones have all been healed.

Bon: "That's—that's great. Hah."

But Bon looks like he's drained of negative energy.

Bon: "It's possible to use negative energy through this weapon, but it will take a lot out of your negative energy reserves."

That's risky, and it looks like attacking the golems with magic wouldn't be efficient.

Idmon: "Okay, thanks for trying it out. Take cover behind us and recover your strength. We might need you to heal one of us later."

Bon: "Yes, Lord Idmon."

This situation is better now since Granpa is much more suited to fighting at the front.

(Shake)

Another earthquake!

Fortunately, it feels like only one golem is approaching.

The land around us has some hills and trees, so we can't see where it is coming from.

Idmon: "(t) What's that!?"

Something shining peeks out of the cluster of trees in front of us.

It looks like a sword!

Idmon: "(t) A Sword Golem, this time!?"

The golem that came out in the open was not similar to the previous two.

This guy's limb was thin, and it felt like it could move fast even though it's as tall as the previous ones!

Idmon: "(t) Watch out, it's coming!"

Lina: "!"

The sword golem ran towards us at high speeds. Lina immediately tried to block him with her ice shield; however,

Lina: "It jumped!"

After it passed Lina, it attacked me with consecutive sword strikes.

Idmon: "Stay away from it!"

Its attacks have a wide range, and it can hit even those behind him. It's like a sword tornado.

The good thing is that it's not as fast as it looks. I can still dodge it, even though it attacks one after another.

Idmon: "I'll keep dodging it while you guys find an opening!"

Lina: "Yes, Lord Idmon!"

The sword golem keeps swinging and dashing in. It doesn't stop to rest or to reset its pattern.

Dodge, dodge, dodge.

is working to its limits. Even though every attack is only a centimeter away from hitting me, I felt confident in dodging.

It's like I achieved a flow in dodging. Then I finally found my answer.

Lina: "!"

Lina shot the sword golem with a weakened version of her spell, , but as expected, it did not pierce him.

This attack, however, made the sword golem flinch for a half-second.

With my dodging flow, I connected an attack with it and hit the sword golem directly at his chest, where most golem cores are.

Idmon: "Go down!"

Fortunately, since the Sword Golem kept attacking, it exposed its core the entire time.

Sword Golem: "Zzzt. Zzzt."

The sword golem's body jerks a bit before it falls. The dropped swords created dust clouds because of their weight.

Idmon: "(t) Is there more of these out there? Damn these golems and their various types."

Granpa: "I'd guess they would have golems for every scenario. That's what I would do if we could produce such monstrous creatures."

Ah, he's right. What can I do about it but complain?

Anyway, I discovered something while fighting these golems using physical attacks and skills.

In these kinds of battles, the enemy is most vulnerable when attacking or moving in for the kill.

Sometimes, when people get overconfident that they can take out their enemy with one hit, they will slack or play around.

Even with these golems, you could see in their patterns that they don't hesitate to attack. They don't even think about it because they follow orders to defeat an enemy with a set of skills or attacks.

There is no doubt about these emotionless golems because, to them, their orders are absolute and have no flaws.

That kind of mindset is what we need to abuse.

Bon: "They're coming from both sides!"

Again with the shaking of the ground. What came next were more golems.

Bon: "The other has swords like the previous golem, however."

The other golem showed up.

Thick armor covered the new golem. The Armored Golem also has additional plating on its chest part, where its core is located.

Idmon: "This golem might be the hardest one to put down."

I tried to rush down the armored golem before the sword golem got in range.

I used the same tactic as before. Baiting the golem to attack and counter at the right time.

It did the same thing as the normal golems, but I can't believe what happened when I attacked its core.

Idmon: "(t) The core was never exposed. Its additional armor protects it!"

Argh. This armor eliminated the golem's greatest weakness. How could we take this monster down?

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(Hos POV)

Hos: "This is now the final test to see what you will do when faced with a crisis you cannot overcome."

Will it be desperation? Despair?

Will he abandon his allies to save himself? Or will they stupidly die altogether?

Or.

Would they overcome everything and become much more powerful than before?

Hos: "I can't wait to see what they will awaken to save themselves from this challenge."

Hos was so excited while watching the trial that he pressed a forbidden button by accident.