บท 71: Rude Awakening [2]
The Golem Knight was almost 5 stories tall and wielded a sword just as large.
Leon was running between its legs and drawing its attention while Susan tended to me.
Susan quickly returned to the Golem Knight after making me drink the healing potion.
"What is even happening?"
I remembered falling asleep in the memory world for the first time in a decade.
The next thing after waking up was getting hit by something and nearly getting killed.
And why was I fighting alongside Leon and Susan?
(We are in a dungeon.)
The voice that I had gotten used to hearing for the past decade and the culprit of my current predicament answered.
(I brought Susan and Leon with me to clear a dungeon.)
There were a lot of things I had to say to him but there is a time and place for everything.
'How long since I lost consciousness?'
I charged toward the Golem Knight.
Defeating this monster came before knowing why I was here.
Leon was running on the golem's shin while attacking. But his attacks didn't have enough power, and the cuts were shallow.
The Golem, unable to hit him, kicked the air.
The momentum of the kick threw him in the air, defenseless.
(One month.)
Judging from Leon's and Susan's haggard appearances I knew it wasn't the time to hold back.
I quickly made my decision.
'Construct'
Phzzzt-
Five greatswords materialized behind me.
"Leon!"
Leon turned his head and saw five greatswords flying in his direction.
Understanding my intentions, he twisted his body midair and using the swords as footholds escaped the golem's follow-up attack.
Fwooosh-
The golem's gigantic sword missed him by hair's breadth.
Leon gulped. If that attack had hit him, even his bones wouldn't have been left.
I was very far from the Golem. Yet I almost fell because of the strong winds produced by the golems swing
Phzzzt-
Five more swords attacked the Golem. But with its hard surface, my attack hardly did any damage.
The first awakening of [Full-Frame] boosts Leon's stats by 100%.
With it, Leon's attacks were a lot more effective than mine. Thus, I decided to support him.
Leon was jumping between the flying swords and attacking whenever he found a gap.
With 3D mobility, his attack range became a lot more versatile.
Slowly, but surely, our coordination was increasing.
Leon was now able to dodge the golem's attack by a large margin.
We were starting to get room to breathe when suddenly the Golem raised his sword toward the sky.
It held the sword with both hands and swung it down with full force.
"Crap"
If that thing hit the floor, we were done for.
The sword itself was as big as a 5 story building. The full-powered swing of the Golem with it would demolish the floor.
It was an AOE attack. Just the stray debris will be enough to do us in.
Before I could even run away, the tip of the sword reached the ground.
Booom-!
A loud explosion that rattled even my bones took place.
But the flying debris never came.
Below the sword of the Golem was Susan, stopping it from striking the ground.
Cracks formed beneath her as the Golem pushed harder.
Yet she didn't even budge!
She held her sword with both hands and stopped the full-powered strike of the boss monster!
Chills ran down my spine as I realized that she faced a strike, strong enough to pulverize me to bones, head-on, and stopped it.
"What are... You guys waiting for!"
Her shout brought us out of the stupor. And we joined the fray.
Leon became the damage dealer with me as the assist. While Susan kept blocking the Golem's full-powered strikes.
With how everything was going, we were going to win without any difficulty.
Or so it should have been.
Ever since the battle started, there was a feeling of discomfort.
I thought it was because I felt an external stimulus for the first time in years.
But I finally found the true source of my discomfort.
The Golem didn't have even a single scratch despite us being attacking for so long.
Thereafter, I noticed more inconsistencies.
The Golem had too high a defense for a Golem specializing in Speed and Attack Power.
Despite the fact Fire element will be strong against stone golems, Leon wasn't using magic to coat his sword.
The golem has stopped trying to make the AOE attack. It was beginning to focus on Leon and ignore Susan, who was the biggest threat to it.
With a sense of foreboding, I questioned Eth.
'What is this Dungeon?'
(3-star Stage-0 Dungeon, Conqueror's Trial.)
"Dammit"
The number of stars went from 1 to 7. They represents the number of [Traits] a boss monster has.
[Traits] were the abilities or skills of monsters. Usually, the number of [Traits] corresponds to the rank of a monster.
Meta-rank = 1 Trait, Iota-rank= 2 Traits, Enma-rank = 3 Traits and so on.
But this wasn't the case here.
The Golem Knight wasn't Enma-rank. If it was, even Susan shouldn't have been able to block its attack.
(It's not a Golem Knight. It's a Beginner Golem)
I again felt that the world was unfair.
Conqueror's Trial, I have been planning to solo this dungeon after I advanced to Iota-rank.
It was because this dungeon had a very important skill, and I was confident in clearing it solo.
'Dammit. Why did you come to this dungeon with the two of them!?'
With Leon and Susan here, the dungeon that was supposed to be easy turned almost impossible.
This was because of the same specialty of this dungeon that made it easy enough for me to solo it.
Conqueror's Trial made the intruders fight against a monster with their own abilities.
The monster will copy the intruder's rank, stat distribution, and any physical specialty.
It doesn't include Stigmas or Arts as they weren't physical speciality.
If I was Solo, the monster would have been near Lvl 11 with weak traits.
But with Leon and Susan here, this was the result.
An peak Iota-rank Golem. A monster with superior physical states while being powered by a mana core.
But this wasn't the real issue.
It was the Golem's [Traits].
Swish-
Leon nimbly dodged the giant sword and attacked the Golem's ankles through the gap in its armor.
With its ankle broken, the Golem fell.
Susan, who was standing below the Golem, thrust her sword at the falling Golem.
The Golem would have tried to attack or block Susan if not for its closed eyes. Which it did to protect them from my relentless attacks.
Booom-!
A thundering explosion occurred as the Golem fell to the ground.
Through the curtains of dust, Susan returned to the back, along with Leon.
"Its core isn't at its heart. Where should I aim next?"
The corners of my lips twitched. Why was she acting haughtily if she was asking for instructions?
Both of them didn't have knowledge about Golems. Thus, I was responsible for leading the charge.
That is, of course, by giving commands from the back while occasionally firing my swords. No way in hell I am going near that monstrosity until I have a plan.
Screech-
The Golem dragged its sword back from the ground. The sword rubbing on the ground produced a very unpleasant sound.
"What's the plan?"
The Golem stood again in all glory, fully healed. Its body didn't show any sign that we'd been fighting it for the past half hour.
"I found its traits. It has [Anti-Magic Field], [Regeneration], and another trait that lets it adapt and learn during a battle."
[Physique] was a physical specialty that this dungeon counted.
The dungeon also gave the monster abilities to either counter or copy them.
[Anti-Magic Field] was to counter Susan's [Mana Blessed Physique].
[War God Physique] allowed Leon to consume any grade of potion without exploding. [Regeneration] was the counter for this ability.
Because two of the invaders have a physique, the Dungeon boss rose from 2-star to 3-star and it has 3 [Traits].
The ability to learn during a battle was also one of Leon's [War God Physique] abilities.
"No wonder it's so strong"
I held my urge to punch this guy.
How did he have the audacity to say it when two of [Traits] were because of him?
"Let's do it like this."
I ignored him and started explaining the plan I came up with.
This Golem can learn from the fights. Sooner or later, it will target the weakest link in our group: me.
I have to end it before that.
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