Chapter 506 - Chapter 450: VS Polymo Golem
“Haaaah!”
Seth’s greatshield blocked the charge of the transformed (?) Polymo Golem. It had the shape of a four-legged beast, and the fact that it had a head but no face was unsettling.
“Growl!”
Lupi’s Crush Claw hit its head, shaving off a portion. Leda and Roy’s attacks similarly scraped away at the Polymo Golem’s body, but…
“This is bad, isn’t it?”
“I’ve seen this in old movies…”
The scraped-off metal flowed fluidly across the floor back to the main body, and the scraped part returned to normal as if nothing had happened. I have a feeling this means no damage is being dealt…
“Ryu?”
“Sorry. Pan, wait a little longer.”
This seems like one of those situations where we need to find a way to defeat it, and I want to save Pan’s tilling attack for a critical moment.
“
Bell-buchou’s magic hit the fragments trying to return to the main body, but they split into even finer pieces… and still returned to the main body.
“Kuru!”
Raz’s Fire Arrow had a similar effect…
“~~~?”
“Unya…”
“What an interesting golem, isn’t it?”
Sweee and Shal were talking as if saying, “Oh no, what do we do?” behind me, while only Azure-san looked amused… But asking for the strategy feels a bit…
“Buchou. Can’t you isolate the detached parts?”
“I see. Prevent them from returning to the main body, then.”
Bell-buchou pondered for a moment, considering which magic to use after hearing Mion’s idea. But before that, was it almost time?
“Brother.”
“Roger.”
I switched roles with Seth for a moment as the shield-bearer. While blocking with the greatshield could shut out damage, the stamina consumption was unavoidable.
“Seth-chan, I’ll cast [Strengthen].”
“My thanks!”
Mion cast the Holy Magic [Strengthen], which increases stamina recovery speed, on Seth. I’m quite ignorant about Holy Magic, but apparently, it increases recovery for about three minutes but also lowers satiety, meaning you get hungry faster.
“Whoops.”
I parried the four-legged Polymo Golem’s right arm (right foreleg?) attack with my Round Shield. My shield technique is to parry, not block like Seth, so it’s dangerous if I look away…
“I can do it.”
“Alright, Lupi!”
“Growl!”
“
The scraped-off fragments were surrounded by a faint purple cube, and trapped by its walls, they began to move aimlessly. The Physical Barrier I used as an umbrella before, this is its proper use, after all.
“Ohh, I see.”
“Bell-dono. How many of those barriers can you create?”
“I can maintain six for ten minutes. Any more and my MP won’t allow it.”
“Understood. Brother, I shall take over, please support Bell-dono.”
“Okay!”
I parried the left arm (left foreleg) attack with my Round Shield, and when the opponent created some distance, I switched with Seth.
“Pan. Can you till the opponent’s head from around its neck?”
“Ryu!”
Pan, raising his hoe above his head, was full of motivation and looked reliable. It seems best to gouge out as large a piece as possible and then trap it with a Physical Barrier. I can probably only create about three Physical Barriers.
“Now, let us go!”
“Ooh!” “Ryu!”
Seth crouched low and, in response to the golem’s charging attack,
“Shield Strike!”
He launched an uppercut-like Shield Art that sent its body flying, and then,
“Ryuu!!”
“
Pan jumped, tilled and scraped the head from the neck with his Mithril Hoe, and I trapped it with my Physical Barrier.
“Did we do it?”
“Hey!”
Seth, you know you’re saying a flag-raising line, right? Bell-buchou seemed exasperated, but she was more concerned about the golem itself.
“I wonder what will happen to this? I’d like to observe it a bit, but…”
I understood her feeling, but I wanted to defeat it quickly. Once a Barrier Magic is cast, you can leave it, but it continuously consumes MP, so prolonged fights will drain resources.
“I wonder if there’s a core somewhere? There must be a marker for it to return to its original state, so I think if we destroy that, it should work.”
“Hmm, Shou-kun, can’t you see it with True Appraisal?”
“Huh? Oh!”
True Appraisal, the advanced skill of Appraisal, activates by being used on “falsified objects” to reveal their true nature. Therefore, there must be a core hidden somewhere in the remaining body…
“It looks like there’s a different, fist-sized area only beneath its throat.”
“Okay~, that’s the same as what I’m seeing. That’s probably the golem’s core.”
“Thanks.”
Now that we knew where to destroy it, all that was left was to do it, but the position beneath the throat was awkwardly difficult to attack.
“Hmm.”
“Oh no, I messed up…”
As I was deliberating what to do, it started regenerating its head by reducing its volume in other parts of its body…
“Pan! One more time! Bell-buchou, can you create the next barrier, please?”
“Ryu!” “Yes, no problem!”
“Then, I shall go again!”
Seeing that the opponent was regenerating and not moving, Seth herself charged. And then,
“Shield Strike!”
This time, the greatshield swept from left to right, sending the golem flying, and then,
“Ryuu!!”
Pan tilled the head from the neck once more. Trusting Bell-buchou to take care of the rest,
“
I slammed my Ken-nata, infused with Gravity Increase, into the exposed core! The next moment, a hard clank echoed, and only the spherical core part was driven into the ground.
“Okay~.
With Azure-san’s light voice, the core was enveloped in a faint blue barrier.
[Character Level increased!]
[True Appraisal skill level increased!]
[Barrier Magic skill level increased!]
[Special Sword Mastery skill level increased!]
“Huh?”
“Hmm. It seems to be over.”
The golem, which Seth looked down upon, lay on its side in its final form, and the other fragments also lay motionless within the Physical Barriers.
“Can we dispel the barriers too, I wonder?”
Bell-buchou tried dispelling the smallest one as a test, then poked it with her staff, but… it seemed fine.
“I think it’s alright now. This is the golem’s core, but can I have it?”
“Yes, I’m perfectly fine with it, but…”
I wondered what Bell-buchou and Seth thought?
“We have no problems. It’s unlikely we’d be able to do anything with it at this point even if we took it.”
Seth also nodded beside her, so I guess it’s fine. Oh, that’s right!
“Azure-san. Later, could you give the Azure Dragon Scale Ornament I received to those two?”
“Ah, that’s a good idea. If they show it when I’m not around, they can get away with a certain amount of unreasonableness, so I’ll give it to them.”
With this, I hope they’ll forget about my True Appraisal blunder earlier…