On my way home (2)
The biggest monster I’ve ever seen in my life.
Absolutely the one in front of me right now.
Literally a little volcano was walking around.
I’m saying it’s small, but in terms of size, it looked like two tolerable three-story buildings put together. No, it was a bit taller than that, so I couldn’t properly measure the height.
Anyway, the guy’s whole body is made of stone, and he has eight hind legs that support his body with two short front legs.
The biggest feature was the volcano on its back like a turtle.
Acrid smoke leaked out from the top of the volcano, which was made of rocks of the same material as the body, and overflowing lava flowed little by little from it.
I thought it was just a volcano, but when I moved my slow legs, the ground shook, showing that it was alive.
“that… … Can you catch me?”
“You don’t even think the knife will stick? No, what is identity in the first place? Why are you moving so confidently?”
Douglas said that he couldn’t kill him and warmed up, and Scarlett raised her voice as if she couldn’t understand.
I also fully understood those feelings.
Those are the thoughts I had when I first met this guy. Because it was so huge, it was hard to know where to start.
While watching for a while, he took another step, and Scarlett, who saw that, tilted her head and asked me.
“Senior, is this a monster?”
“For now, I think you’re right.”
“But why… … Do you feel any hostility towards humans?”
Basically, monsters that originate from dark magic hate humans and try to kill them. Because it was something that could be called instinct, it was absolutely impossible to coexist with humans.
However, the volcano in front of us was just advancing as if it didn’t care about us.
“Isn’t it that he doesn’t even pay attention to us because we are so small? It’s like a bug.”
“That hurts my pride a little. If I get bitten by an insect, will I come to my senses?”
At Douglas’ words, Scarlett leaned over and put her hand on the handle of her sword.
Then, as if thinking about it, he looked at me again and asked.
“Monster Encyclopedia senior, do you know what kind of monster that is?”
“I don’t know either.”
“Is there anything you don’t know about? You talked as if you knew all the monsters in the world, so was it all a lie?”
“… … It must be some kind of golem.”
It’s not a lie, I also don’t know the exact identity of that guy.
The only thing that was certain was that, like a golem, if you find the core inside your body and destroy it, it will stop moving.
That’s why I called it a volcanic golem, but in fact, I only defeated it once.
At that time, I didn’t even care about civilian damage, and since there was a big one, I thought there might be some clue, so I killed it and searched thoroughly, but there was nothing.
In the end, even if you see a volcanic golem later, you will just pass by it.
“For now, he seems to be concentrating only on moving. If you see that the direction is constant, it seems that there is a clear destination.”
“Where are you going? Wasn’t there a village earlier in this direction?”
“When I saw it from above… … Beyond it was a lake. I think I might be heading there. The problem is that there is a village in between.”
In a previous life, the volcanic golem was nestled in the middle of a lake.
Thanks to that, I felt that the heat was slightly relieved at the time, but now the heat is transmitted directly.
“Didn’t I say golem earlier? Is a golem a sword that can swim? Or is it the sword feeling that my body is hot?”
“That’s why I wasn’t sure. Or you can go and give me a sample.”
“I still think so!”
Scarlett shouted that and ran towards him, and Douglas looked at him from behind and clicked his tongue briefly.
“Well, it’s like a colt… … .”
Whatever the identity of the volcanic golem, it was clear that he had to stop it here and now. If this continues, not only will the village be destroyed, but it will settle down in the lake and emit toxic gas, eventually causing a violent eruption as if trying to squeeze the last life away, devastating the entire area.
If Rize hadn’t seen it, I’d have to step in and stop it.
In the meantime, Scarlett reached the golem’s leg and swung her sword with all her might.
Kaaang!
“Quaaagh!”
The sword bounced off with an intense sound, and Scarlett screamed while holding onto her trembling wrists.
So who told me to wield a sword so ignorantly?
Me and Douglas looked at Scarlett with a pitiful look on their faces, and then we walked towards him together.
The one who looked up close couldn’t even tell where the head was, and it seemed that if he was stepped on by that slow-moving bridge, not even a shape would remain of the corpse.
“Well then, we’ll have to test how hard it is.”
Douglas took a quick step, settled down, and quickly swung his sword at the huge feet that were approaching in front of him, as if they were emitting beams of light.
Quaggagak!
There was a distinctly different sound from when Scarlett swung earlier.
The rocks that made up the golem’s body fell in a heap with a dull sound.
A wound so great that it is hard to believe it was inflicted with a sword.
But even so, his legs were still attached and functioning properly.
“I can’t. It would take all day just to knock down all the bridges. Is there any good way?”
“I’m thinking about it for now.”
Breaking a bridge had never been attempted before.
From noble mtl dot com
At that time, they were already settled in the lake, so they had no choice but to attack from above.
I couldn’t do it with a sword, so all I had to do was dig up my body with a pickaxe to find the core and break it.
Maybe there is a different way from then?
I thought about that, but it seemed that even if I broke my leg and took away my mobility, what I had to do wouldn’t change much.
No, rather, I decided that it would be better to devise a strategy after breaking it.
“Currently, he doesn’t seem to be interested in anything other than moving, so let’s try to stop him by breaking his legs first. At least we have to buy time for residents to evacuate sufficiently.”
“Hmm, I agree. They have eight legs, so we can aim to break three each.”
“I don’t think I can break it, so I’ll go upstairs and take a closer look at it!”
“Where are you going to run to? I have to think about filling in the missing parts at this point! With your strength, you should be able to cut through that hardness! If you can’t break more than two, I’ll train you myself for a month.”
“Ugh.”
At Douglas’ threat, Scarlett trudged toward the bridge on her right side with her shoulders drooping.
Douglas, who stared at the back, turned his head back to me and said,
“Then let me take the left side. Would you like to start from the back?”
“I will. When something goes wrong, we make escape the top priority.”
“Yes, it is.”
After a short strategy meeting, I quickly headed to the back. There was Rize where he was heading, so I had to block it before that.
As soon as he got closer to the bridge, he applied strength to the sword he pulled out and cut it with all his might.
Quasac!
As expected, it was an aculium, so I was able to cut it with certainty.
However, since the wound was so small, it would take a long time to knock on it.
Landing on the floor, I pondered for a moment before changing the shape of the sword.
What changed this time was a big curve.
Aculium, which can eat other metal weapons and change its form, had one more characteristic.
Even the ability of the relic that was eaten right away was that it could be used the same way.
That moment when I ran back to the bridge and cut, cut, cut again, and cut the same place a total of five times.
Kwaaang!
Rocks fell in torrents with a violent explosion.
This curved sword is a relic that causes an explosion if it cuts the same place five times, so it was called garbage without a name.
Cutting the same place during battle was close to a skill, and if that was about five times, it would be better to use a different weapon.
Even for such a weapon, it was fortunate to find such usefulness.
I couldn’t feed it because it was a waste of other things, but I continued to swing my sword thinking that it was good to try it.
Kwak! Kwaaang!
Explosions continued to chip away at the rocks, and finally the connection to the bridge was severed, causing the huge body to stagger.
Around the same time, Douglas also had a leg cut off, and it seemed that he was further staggered.
When I turned my head to check the other side, I saw Scarlett struggling.
Still, unlike the first time, he was breaking the rocks step by step, probably getting the trick.
At first, the bridge-breaking operation seemed to proceed smoothly.
However, this child did not even show signs of pain. Or is there no such thing as a sense?
Although puzzled, he continued to break his leg. It was the moment when Scarlett, who had destroyed one, was destroying the second, and me and Douglas broke the second at the same time.
Wow… … !
“Have you stopped?”
The volcanic golem with only three legs remained in place.
As I leaned back little by little, feeling that something unusual was about to happen, I heard a loud sound from the other side.
“aaa!”
A spirit close to grotesque.
As if she wasn’t used to the feeling of cutting a rock yet, Scarlett was concentrating only on slicing her legs with an elongated spirit.
I spur the ground right away and reverse direction.
Arriving in front of Scarlett one step ahead of Douglas, whom I found late, I wrapped my body around her waist as if snatching her without hesitation, and flung myself outward.
“Sir, senior?! Suddenly nothing… … !”
Her words couldn’t go any further.
Tuquaguaaang!
With a huge roar, lava started pouring down.
* * *
After walking around the village to see if anyone was hiding, Irina returned to where Rize was.
Rize, perched on a suitable rock, was staring in the direction Irvine was going.
If you listen closely, you can hear the sound of something crashing and something heavy falling from afar.
Irina also looked there for a while, then slightly bent down and spoke to Rize.
“Lady, let us evacuate as well.”
However, Rize just shook her head.
“Dad will wait for you here.”
“It could be dangerous up here. Seeing that the three of them haven’t returned yet, it’s highly likely that they’re tough monsters.”
“I will still wait here. Because I made a promise to my father.”
“… … .”
How can you be so stubborn at times like this?
Irina let out a small sigh and quietly sat down behind Rize.
To protect Rize no matter what happens.
The surrounding forest was emitting strange noises without hearing a single animal sound.
The violent sounds of crashing, crashing, falling, collapsing, breaking.
At the same time, as the smoke gradually thickened, Irina checked the mouth covering Rize was wearing once more.
how long was that
“… … uh?”
Perhaps surprised by the sudden silence, Rize lifted her butt off the rock and stood up.
Somehow, I had a bad feeling.
Tuquaguaaang!
At that moment, the ground shook violently with a huge roar.
As if holding onto herself as she tried to run away, Rize held her hands close to her lower abdomen as if praying.
The roar stopped once, but the sound of something collapsing and breaking continued to be heard.
Along with him, the vibrations that had been felt intermittently grew in an instant and were approaching little by little.
Irina stepped forward a bit in front of Rize and drew her sword, ready to leave this place with Rize at any time.
And it wasn’t long before I started to see something black through the trees.
“oh my god… … !”
Irina, who finally saw the volcanic golem that appeared, immediately hugged Rize and quickly got out of its path.
“dad? Dad?!”
Rize’s gaze, which was looking around for Irvin, stopped at the volcanic golem.
The wounds inflicted by the three people, including Irvin, were nowhere to be seen, and numerous legs like centipedes and spiders were sticking out in all directions.
It seemed obvious that those countless bridges would move and destroy the village.
“It has to be stopped.”
“It’s not possible.”
Irina immediately objected to Rize’s muttered words.
I couldn’t let him run into an unknown monster like that. For Irina, Rize’s safety was her top priority.
It was intended to at least stun them if they used it one more time, but Rize kept her mouth shut and was immersed in thought while looking at the volcanic golem.
Then, as if he had made up his mind, he turned his head and looked at Irina again.
“Sister, then… … Is it okay to use magic?”