25. Earth Golem
From Noble mtl dot com
“What’s this?”
Irina found something among the collapsed ruins.
It was a long wooden staff.
Swoosh! Swoosh!
A few times she swung the stick, and soon nodded as if pleased.
“It’s fine. With a little work, it might be usable as a window frame.”
Income was not the sole purpose.
“Oh! What’s this?”
Irina uncovered a long bundle of wire buried in the ruins.
“It could also be used as a rope substitute. This is good too.”
In an intact era, it would have been nothing but a trivial item to be discarded.
On Earth, it was just a common object scattered everywhere.
But in this world, even this was one of the good materials.
Irina leaving the square was not solely to find such materials.
She had something else in mind.
She wandered through the desolate corners, turning her head around constantly.
Dark, humid corners.
A sharp wind obscured her view.
Even from Han’s perspective, Irina appeared blurry due to the snow in her eyes.
At such a point, it was impossible to gauge the intensity of the wind she felt.
“Haah.”
As she exhaled a long breath, the warm breath clouded her vision.
It was a surprisingly cold and harsh environment here.
Such a rough environment fiercely tested all living beings.
Sometimes, she felt the cold, blowing her breath to thaw her frozen hands.
But Irina, and Han watching over her, weren’t overly worried.
For Irina, this was more than familiar; it was her everyday environment.
She had grown up in such surroundings.
By the time she was born, it must have been quite some time since this frozen apocalypse began.
As such, for Irina, eyes were probably as familiar as the green forest she had seen all her life.
It was likely a sight she had seen her whole life since she was born and raised.
***
Squish. Squish.
She trudged through the piled snow, carrying a handful of useful items she had found while rummaging through the ruins.
Soon, Irina’s efforts paid off.
“Ah, there it is!”
Irina’s face lit up.
The material she had been searching for, Mana Mushrooms.
Carefully plucking a couple of mushrooms emitting a faint blue hue and holding them close to her chest, her face was filled with joy.
She knew well how significant these small crops were to their elven community.
In their realm construction, this material was the most useful and easiest to work with, yet always in short supply.
This time was no different.
“Should we look a little further?”
She seemed regretful, as if she hadn’t quite satisfied her palate, but soon Irina raised her head and looked at the sky on the opposite side.
The common darkness seemed to be surging like a tide.
Evening was gradually approaching.
“…No. We should head back. It’s getting dark.”
Days in this far-off place started late and ended quickly.
It was natural since the sun barely shone.
Nevertheless, Irina, having completed a somewhat satisfying harvest, turned her body without regrets, feeling a newfound sense of reassurance.
***
“Zion! Are you ready?”
“Yes!”
It was late at night, past midnight.
The elves were still awake, not having fallen asleep yet.
Instead, they had set up bright bonfires around the dark central square to illuminate the darkness around.
Only the central square was brightly lit in the darkness.
It was a time when they would have usually been asleep.
But tonight was different. The reason being—
“Kieeek!”
A commotion caused by a tunnel that suddenly appeared.
Two ants emerged from beneath it.
“Haah!”
An arrow shot with all of Zion’s strength flew towards the charging Mega Ant.
The momentum was good.
As an archery master, Zion’s skills were comparable to Irina’s.
However.
Ting!
The destructive power was lacking.
The arrow, sharp and swift, hit the tough exoskeleton of the Mega Ant and bounced off.
It landed in the snowfield nearby.
But that wasn’t the end.
Irina was there.
Whoosh!
As Irina infused her arrow with divine power, the darkness around them was pushed back.
The moment her golden arrow left her bow, the charging Mega Ant exploded into pieces right where it stood.
Dealing with the remaining ant was also a quick affair.
With successive arrows, the last one was neatly taken care of.
It marked the end of a perilous situation.
***
A message from the system popped up.
Ding!
[Notice!]
[The final third special event announcing the awakening of the divine, ‘Incursion,’ has occurred!]
“…Incursion event?”
The name itself was unsettling.
Incursion? An incursion, you say?
Yet without time to question, the system displayed a series of messages before him.
[New abilities will be unlocked with this event!]
[Unique abilities, Golem Shop, will be unlocked following the awakening of the Elven god!]
Incursion, and now the unlocking of some ability called Golem.
However, rather than being pleased by this fact, Han instinctively sensed that the situation he was facing was far from easy.
Thus far, events had always foretold significant changes.
Having experienced two special events before, the first ‘Threat’ and the second ‘Encounter,’ he knew this was undeniable.
If the previous events hinted at the moment of initial friction with monsters and the meeting of new Elves, then this third event, Incursion, without a doubt…
It was unmistakable.
This was a kind of declaration heralding a massive invasion of monsters, entirely different from the previous goblin enclave.
Of course, Han was unsure of the target.
Right now, the elusive target was right before their eyes.
He stared beyond the dark tunnel with a stern expression, contemplating.
‘The ants deep in this burrow. Stopping them is this task.’
***
Golem.
A non-living, spell-like summon controlled by a few magicians or summoners.
He knew about them quite well.
In modern times, the term mainly referred to guard-type summons that protected citizens like gatekeepers in dungeons.
A Golem was a kind of magical robot or something similar.
The difference from robots lay in the fact that while robots operated on electricity and science, Golems derived their motion from earth, mud, and inherent magical energy within their bodies.
Han had acquired summoning abilities.
[Summon your guardian of the domain, Golem.]
[Upon summoning, 1500 points will be consumed.]
[Currently, maximum summonable entities: 0/1]
“…….”
Summoning Golem.
From the ants’ incursion to the imminent swarm.
Undoubtedly, in this situation, there was no better ability to fend off their attacks.
However, conversely.
‘Without Golem’s aid, relying solely on the Elves would naturally be insufficient.’
That had been his realization up to now.
The system seemed oddly unkind yet kind.
It felt as if it was structured step by step.
At first, encountering challenges that could be overcome, then later accepting endangered kin as comrades.
Even situations that seemed continuously difficult yet somehow manageable.
Moreover, what was referred to as a special event felt like a kind of tutorial to him.
As if the deity of their race was ensuring a definite progression to the next stage.
“Well then.”
This invasion event was clearly more than just a simple crisis.
It was almost certain to be a growth event for the elves to develop.
“Of course, as it’s the final stage of the tutorial, it will be challenging… but perhaps not to the point of being unbeatable.”
The ability called Golra would help them overcome this crisis.
It was undoubtedly an ability that would emerge to aid him.
At that moment, the system alarm resounded once again.
[The invasion of the anthill has begun!]
Bang!
Along with the message, a loud vibration emanated from the direction of the tunnel.
“Kieeak!”
Ferocious roars accompanied the appearance of ants.
“That one!”
But this one, compared to the previous ants, had a different physique altogether.
At first glance, it was noticeably larger and massive.
[Red Alert: Mega Jo Ant]
[Worker Class.]
Its identity was a worker ant!
Could it be that there were individuals much stronger than the ants encountered before?
Even to Ilyina, who was taken aback, quickly grabbed her bow and swiftly climbed over the barrier.
Zion did the same.
Ilyina imbued her arrows with divine power and shot at the creature without hesitation.
The arrows launched by the elves struck the massive worker ant approaching the barrier.
However, due to its robust physique and thick exoskeleton, Zion’s attacks, as well as Ilyina’s divine arrows, only left scratches on its surface, withstanding the onslaught and attempting a fierce charge.
It was on a completely different level from the previous ants.
Its overwhelming defense even made onlookers freeze in astonishment.
[Kieeak!]
The worker ant snarled fiercely.
It forcefully slammed its body towards the elves standing on the barrier.
Bang!
Mushroom bricks came tumbling down.
A part of the barrier they had been constructing for a long time was destroyed.
The elves agilely dodged before the barrier collapsed, but this left a clear path leading straight into the square.
“Nuna!”
“Run away!”
Was it because she realized the difficulty and danger of the opponent?
Irrena stood in front of the two siblings.
It was a dangerous opponent to face for young elves.
But even for Irrena herself, it was the same.
Alone, she blocked the way, and the soldier ants rushed fiercely towards her.
“It’s dangerous!”
Dodging the giant’s charge that suddenly covered her with a roll on the ground, she shot an arrow again.
Bang!
From Noble mtl dot com
With the impact that burst out, the soldier ant staggered, but quickly opened its jaws and charged.
Even Han, who was watching, could tell.
Unlike the previous small worker ants, this one was more agile and quick.
It was so disproportionate to its size.
Irrena herself seemed to feel the same, as her expression showed confusion.
Due to the agility of the ant, she had no time to reload her arrow.
She thought it was impossible. She tried to confront the ant with a sword instead of a bow, but even that seemed futile.
“Haap!”
With a powerful strike, she swung the sword, but it was futile due to the hard exoskeleton.
Her wrist tingling, she grabbed the ant’s forearm.
It was a fact that she was delivering clear effective hits to the soldier ant.
As the enchanted arrows hit and exploded, the gold melted and the crimson body fluids began to ooze out.
However, the ant was still alive and fiercely charging.
Irrena was barely holding on, but it was clear that she wouldn’t last long like this.
“When will my points recover at this rate?”
He was just as anxious.
Last night, due to the battle with the ants that lasted until dawn, he also consumed points.
Surely, the time would come for the points to recover, but the last 100 points had not yet been restored.
He alternated between Han’s status window and Irrena’s precarious situation.
At that moment.
Ping.
His points, which were 1400pt, rose to 1500pt.
“Got it!”
A message appeared before his eyes.
[Summon Earth Golem?]
[1500pt will be consumed.]