As I took out the artificial arm and raised it so it could be seen, I just earned a confused and stupid look from the people around me. After a few seconds, I literally threw the artificial arm at the feet of the guy without an arm to see if he would just take it.
- “what… is this?”.
The guys are only watching between the artificial arm and me, they look like idiots. I raised my left arm and showed them my recovered hand, then I pointed at the arm at the feet of the guy with the shield, and then I point at him and his right shoulder.
- “Wait! Is this thing for me?”.
I only nod my head to his stupid question.
- “is not that an artificial arm? But how did it found something like that? Hmm… it’s also bigger than I’ve seen before”.
Huh? now that she said it... it’s true! it’s not as big as one of my arms but it’s bigger than a human arm, I suppose my skill miscalculate the right size of it. Just when I was thinking that and the guys were still giving me and the arm surprised glances, the monkeys didn’t wait more and they attacked us… or at least they tried, I activated my quick step and with a quick move of my new left arm, I was able to push them back, it seems like I’ve gotten quite fast since even the monkeys seemed surprised by my speed, yet, I’m more surprised by them since even in a situation in which I push them back so easily, they still had time to attack my arm and trying to scratch it, not like they really did me any damage.
- “Awesome! That speed… that’s not the speed of a Golem!”.
- “that thing… did it use to have those horns? Wait! Not only that, is not this guy smaller than yesterday?”.
- “… it… evolved somehow… this feeling… is not this Golem an E- rank? Maybe an E rank? And way faster than normal...”.
- “Eh? No way! this thing can’t be E rank, not in this forest at least… isn’t it?”.
… no! You are overthinking it, I’m pretty sure I’m rank F… anyway, why don’t you just put on the stupid arm?
- “…!!!”.
- “Eh?… right! The arm”.
The guy finally got out of his weird expression when he saw me pointing at the arm again.
- “AAAH!!! OOH OOH! AAAH!!!”.
- “…!!!”.
The monkeys wanted to attack once again, but I stopped them by just hitting my chest repeatedly like a gorilla, that really seemed to get them nervous.
- “… I don’t think it will fit, that thing is too big...”.
- “If we weren’t in such a weird situation I would certainly have something to say to that”.
- “shut up! What are you? A child?”.
- “It is not my fault that you...”.
- “hey! A little help here”.
Seriously… these guys will give me a headache. At the voice of their friend, the idiots stopped fighting and helped him to put the arm in his shoulder, it’s certainly bigger than I… eh? What!!?
- “Huh? Is not that… slime?”.
- “The arm! it’s connecting itself with my shoulder… what is this?”.
- “The arm is getting smaller!!! how is it doing that?”.
… SERIOUSLY? How in the hell did that happen?… WAIT!!! didn’t my skill said something about… what was it? To adapt better to the user… something like that? This is what it was referring to? Holy mother of sin! This is bloody awesome!
- “it’s done… the arm now is the same size as my other arm… eh? No way!”.
- “what? What happened?”.
- “this thing… it’s a “reinforced” kind of weapon! And it gives me 4 different kinds of bonuses… vitality, strength, defense, and speed, everything +10 in stats or more...”.
- “wh… how much? How much in total?”.
Why do they seem so serious? I can even notice how pale their faces are… huh? don’t you dare giving one more step stupid monkey!
- “… it gives me… a total of... +120... it’s an “Irregular Quality Weapon”...”.
- “… EH!!? Are you serious!!?”
- “Wow! that’s so great!”.
- “AAAAAH!!! OOH OOH! AAAH! AAAH!”.
- “…!!!”.
Stop talking you pieces of shit! Start fighting!
- “eh? Right! let’s go, guys!”.
- “Yes!”.
Freaking finally! The guy with the artificial arm, he took his shield once again and moved forward, he still seems to be trying to be a shield… doesn’t he have another weapon? Oh shit! I forgot the guy lost it when he threw it against the wolf… damn it! it’s my fault they lost one of their weapons. The guy with the sword also moved forward while the girl with the staff seems to take her distance. The guy with the sword and the guy with the shield are very close. I only stayed standing like a statue because I want to see what they do from now on.
- “The Golem is not moving?”.
- “focus on the fight, he already lends us a hand, the rest is our job”.
- “… really? A hand joke?”.
… idiots! The monkeys moved forward straight for the one with the sword, but the guy with the shield push them back just enough for his friend to give a horizontal swing with the sword, before getting behind the guy with the shield, that way he was able to not receive the counter-attack from the monkeys and at the same time make them give a step back. The monkeys are not quitting yet, one of them jumped over the guys but the guy with my arm blocked it, that stupid monkey is trying to reach the guy face with its hands, probably to scratch him, but the guy still doesn’t let it happen.
- “Take this!”.
- “AH? AAAAAH!!! OOH OOH!”.
- “… what?”.
Hahaha, that expression, the guy with the shield tried to punch the monkey to deal some damage, but, of course, the retractile horn just grew and pierced through the monkey skin, now they seem really surprised while looking at the long retractile horn at the back of the hand of the artificial arm, in all honesty, I didn’t expect for the horn to be that long, and it looks stronger than the one of the horned hares, although I suppose it makes sense since my skill used 3 “horn of hare” to create that retractile horn in the arm.
- “…!”.
- “eh?… thank you?”.
The guy still has that impressed and confused expression on his face, and he seems more confused by me giving him a thumb up, but… after a quick glance at his new arm and at me, a smile appeared on his face, and that passion came back to his eyes, I would say that his confidence is restored and improved.
This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
He charged again against the monkeys, but this time the shield is no longer the focus of his stance, now the focus is his new arm. The guy with the sword quickly followed, also with an excited smile on his face… hmm?… the girl at the back also seems to be more confident… that only confirms my suspicion that he was the stronger in the team and that he was their leader. I stepped to the side and watched the fight break once again. The guy with the sword is moving with more confidence, there’s no trace of that uncertainty and worry that he was showing before, his hits land almost always, and it seems like he can evade the tails of the monkeys with ease, the guy with the artificial arm on his side seems to be way better, he’s fighting against 2 monkeys alone, keeping his shield up and prepare to move it when necessary, while at the same time giving quick swings with his new arm and the horn, he’s also patient enough to wait for the exact moment to thrust his horn against the monkeys… the healer on her side, she’s very focused on the fight, her eyes don’t stop watching the fight not even for one second, following each movement, waiting for the right moment to use her heal… they are surprisingly good… no, that’s wrong, I watched them fight before, and they weren’t fighting this good even when they were 4 of them, so either their old formation with 4 members didn’t let them use their full potential, or… this fight is different from that one… in any case, that doesn’t concern me.
- “CUT!”.
- “THRUST!”.
- “AH? OOH!… AH… ah...”.
They did it, they killed the 3 monkeys… that was surprisingly easier than I expected.
- “We did it!”.
- “fuuu… I can’t believe we won despite having started with such a big disadvantage… ah? Sorry! I didn’t mean to...”.
- “no problem, we were at a disadvantage when we started… but we no longer are... thanks to this new arm, and the one who gives it to me, thank you! Sir Golem!”.
Hahaha, I didn’t do much, but my arm was indeed the one who helps them win, my skill can do surprisingly good weapons, especially considering the trash that was used to create it.
- “dude, your new arm is amazing, giving a total of +120 in stats, that means that that arm is around the F rank to F+ rank in power compared to a human, it’s a weapon that can be easily used by adventurers ranking “D” or inferior, it’s perfect for you and our group!”.
- “Yeah… using this weapon is like using a set of at least 3 “Regular Quality Equipment” at once”.
- “wow! that’s impressive… but… how did the Golem get this kind of object? Also, what exactly happened to it since last night? It looks way different”.
… even if I wanted to tell you, I can’t talk, so we better let it like this.
- “… hahaha, it’s okay, I think it just ranked up and got stronger, I mean, he probably was fighting while we were sleeping, after all, I've never heard of Golems needing to sleep”.
- “you must be right! let’s no overthink this”.
- “okay… but… what a weird rank up to change this much...”.
Hmm… that guy, the one who leads them, gave me a suspicious look before smiling and trying to ease his companions… it gives me the creeps.
- “Anyway, now that we finished our fight, it is time to move, we need to get back to town”.
- “Yes!”.
- “let’s go, Golem!”.
… I suppose I can follow them for a while. After that they got what they could from the monkeys and then took their stuff and started to walk, I was surprised that I didn’t see any monster cores, only materials... I didn’t have the need to take anything from them because I didn’t really fight the monkeys, I mean, if I wanted I probably could have taken everything they had anyway but that would be a waste of my efforts to create that artificial arm and help them… not like it was that hard considering how my skill was the one that actually did almost everything.
A few hours later.
We have been walking through the forest for a few hours now, I didn’t have the need to fight the whole walk since this guy wanted to keep testing the new arm, so far everything was good, though I noticed that there are more in this forest than just slimes, horned hares, monkeys, and dire wolves, I've seen a serpent way bigger than the ones in my world, but only one so far, I also saw a few big spiders in some trees, and finally, a pair of boars, the guys didn’t fight the boars though, they said they had too much defense and had a skill that was too strong for their shield, even though their levels didn’t seem to be that high, they didn’t want to risk it, the same goes for the snake that in their words, it’s too strong. I was just following them around so, in the end, I didn’t fight. Right now we have found a path several meters away from the forest.
- “This is the path to our home town where our families must be waiting for us”.
- “Finally! I feel like it’s been years since I was in town”.
- “don’t be so exaggerated, it wasn’t that bad”.
- “… you say that now but you are as exhausted as I am”.
Just getting here and they already started to discuss… fuuu… such kids...hmm… huh? Why is this guy looking at me? What up with that smile?
- “I don’t think you will follow us, right? After all, as a monster, the town will be quite a problematic place with all the adventurers there”.
Oh! it was that why he had such a weird smile, well, it makes sense, obviously I can’t go with them, not only because the town might be dangerous for me considering that I’m a Golem, but also because I seriously want to get more monster cores and for that I need to keep fighting, so far this forest is the best place for me. I give a look to the kids around me, before turning around and walking back to the forest.
- “Eh? Goodbye, Sir Golem! Thanks for helping us”.
- “Next time we see each other, we’ll fight, and you can bet your ass that I’ll kill you”.
- “hey! What are you saying so suddenly? Show more respect”.
- “ha, why should I? I’m an adventurer, that thing is a monster, is the job of adventurers to kill strong monsters, isn’t it?”.
- “… you!...”.
- “bye, Sir Golem! I thank you for this artificial arm, and hopefully, our paths cross once again in the future”.
I only raised my hand and wave in acknowledge to their words, it’s everything I can do since I can’t talk, hahahaha, those guys are such a problematic group, but they weren’t that bad.
A few minutes later.
I kept walking for quite a while, surprisingly I didn’t find any enemies… weird, very weird.
- “GRRR!”
… Eh? who’s behind me?
- “GRRR!… I haven’t seen you in a while, Golem...”.
… Huh? No way! That guy is… the strong dire wolf!… this is not possible, its aura, it’s even more dangerous than yesterday… did this thing level up since yesterday? just how strong it became? Wait! there’s something else, did I just hear him talking? that’s bloody ridiculous!
- “… interesting, I was right, after all, you do smell like my pack… the smell of their blood and their cores, I can smell it on you! ROAAAR!!!”.
It really talked! Just before my mind could process the situation, the wolf disappears and appeared in front of me in an instant, it hit me with his front paws and push me back… strong bastard!… the hit was what I needed to get out of my stupor, and just in time to block the claws of the wolf, it tried to slash my chest but I could block it using my right arm, thanks to my improved defense, it barely left a scratch. When the wolf moved back after his slash, I moved forward in an intent to give him a horizontal hit, but it was easily dodged by the wolf, then the wolf bites me, its body shakes violently, and I can feel the pressure of its strong jaws, in a surprising move of my opponent, it somehow moves my entire body to the air and the throws me away, making me land hard against the ground.
- “…!”.
- “GRRR!… you have improved since last time, but not enough to win this fight… but, I’ll admit that your defense has gotten better as well as your speed… hmm… your looks changed, it’s quite obvious you ranked up… hahahaha, interesting, I haven’t met an “F” rank monster to ever rank up in this forest apart from me”.
… fuuu… this guy is surprising quite the talker, and I barely understand what he’s saying, but I’m sure of one thing… there’s no way I’m losing this time. I quickly get up, then I use my skills “quick step” and “minor harden”, the wolf immediately stiffened, I suppose he quickly noticed the slight change on me… but that’s not enough. I jumped forward and the wolf tried to get some distance from us while moving to my left side, since I noticed that the moment my feet touch the ground I immediately impulse myself in that direction and throw a punch, the wolf is barely able to fully evade it, being slightly scratched by the horn at the back of my hand.
I use my “charge” to give another hit with my right arm and this time I’m able to reach the wolf, hitting it on its side and sending it flying against a tree, but I don’t stop there and I move against the tree with my left hand prepared to give a powerful punch. The wolf reacted just before my hit lands and jumps over my hand, then runs straight to my face and gives me a powerful bite, but this bite is not normal, it seems to be a skill. I move my hand prepared to hit the wolf over my head, but it quickly moves aside and can get some distance between us.
- “… hahahaha, I see, "quick-step" and "charge" from the horned hares, and I bet you also have the skills of my death companions… I can feel one of those skills in you”.
Eh? it recognized the skills? such a smart bastard… I wonder if it can also use the skills of other monsters.
- “I can”.
- “…!?”.
- “don’t be so surprised, after all, every time you kill another monster, as long as the skill and you are compatible, there’s an almost nonexistent possibility that you can learn it, I haven’t obtained quick-step, but I did acquire charge, the difference, is that I got it from a minor brown boar”.
… eh? It can understand me? No! Wait, that’s wrong, it’s not that it can understand me, the bastard can read my mind?
- “Hmm… don’t you know? I can’t read minds, it’s just that… when you killed my pack members, you got the skill “pack bond” and thanks to that skill we should have a certain understanding of each other thoughts, to begin with, “pack bond” is a skill for team purposes like team fights or hunting… hmm… the one who bathed himself in the blood of my pack needs to learn a few things… interesting!”.
I couldn’t understand much about what the wolf was talking about, but it seems like, somehow, I made myself a bloody troublesome ally.
- “...”.
Now here I was, in front of the most fearsome enemy I faced so far, a bloody wolf! A bloody wolf laughing joyfully while showing such a smug face, and I couldn’t even move due to the absurdity of the whole thing.