Chapter 80: The Sage Uses the Spirits of the Dead

The damaged golem stood up.

The magic cannon that had run out of its ammunition fell off.

It was probably discarded because it was deemed unnecessary.

“Uo…?”

As soon as John raised his voice, the golem staggered.

It somehow managed to keep itself from falling, but its behavior was suspicious.

Apparently, there was some stagnation in the circulation of magic power.

Damage from various places caused malfunctions to occur.

Originally, that golem’s structure was the product of miracles.

I had never seen a weapon as intricate as that.

Therefore, a slight deviation would ruin it.

The more damage it suffered, the more apparent this effect was.

“Damn it…”

The Golem halted in front of me.

It didn’t launch a fierce attack like before; instead, it just took a stance.

It seemed he realized there was no point in repeating inefficient attacks.

The golem’s operator, John, was very cautious.

The magic cannons are out of ammunition, and the ray of light can be reflected as well. I can also use transfer magic unlimitedly to evade at any time.

None of the golem’s attacks were powerful enough to kill me.

Although I was inferior in terms of pure power, there was a great gap between the versatility of our abilities. 

There were clear limits to manufactured weapons.

Regardless of how ingeniously they were made, they couldn’t do things outside of what was specified within the framework of their design.

The fact that it lacked the concept of growth, one could consider that to be this weapon's weakness.

“…”

I exuded miasma outside my body to repair my broken arm and flank.

I had to use wooden components instead of bones to repair the broken parts, but that shouldn’t create any problems.

I was able to move my miasma constructed hand without any difficulty.

At the very least, it would last long enough until the end of the battle.

Meanwhile, the golem observed me.

It had already made preparations that would allow it to shoot the ray of light if and when required.

I did all that so he would just give up, but it seemed that he still intended to fight.

Despite his clear disadvantage, John didn't give up on victory.

Rather, he regained his composure and looked for a chance to make a reversal.

He had calmed down from his angry mood, and he no longer spoke.

I thought that by pressuring him mentally I could break his will to fight, but it seemed to have inspired him instead.

John was surprisingly obsessive.

Ever since that one time, the main personality hadn't appeared anymore and he had maintained control.

This toughness and reluctance to give up could be considered as a heroic temperament.

It was certainly confirmed that he possessed extraordinary courage when he chose to fight alone against the Demon Lord.

That’s why I can’t let my guard down. I need to proceed steadily.

At present, there were a few things I still needed to do.

First was to destroy the giant golem and secure the mystical stone installed within.

The next was to kill John Doe.

Considering the conversations we've had until now, it was clear that there was no way for us to reconcile.

I couldn’t invite him to the Demon Lord’s Army.

However, if he was kept alive, he would likely cause trouble once again.

On no account could I ignore his ideas and technical skill.

Although John was currently pushed to the brink, I still couldn’t be careless.

My greatest fear at this moment was being exposed to the power of the Great Spirit at close proximity.

The golem still maintained its high output.

If I were to get hit directly by the ray of light, then not only my current body, but also my soul would possibly end up obliterated.

It was more dangerous than common holy magic because it would disturb my resurrection.

That was why I chose to attack from a distance to make sure that the golem was neutralized; I could steal the mystical stone from the golem as long as it stayed in a situation where it couldn’t attack. 

Once I decided on my strategy, I immediately activated my spell.

In response, the golem also pointed both of its arms in my direction.

Yet it didn’t fire its ray of light.

As expected, he was wary of the possibility that it might get reflected.

The series of damage suffered by the golem made John cautious.

That was the reason I could blatantly construct my spell.

I spread my consciousness around the capital.

I sensed corpses scattered about as I did that.

There were various corpses that could be seen lying around from those who were slaughtered by the undead, crushed by the rubble, burned to death by the golem’s ray of light, and slain in combat.

I started merging them using the authority of the Valley of the Dead.

I mixed in the roaming undead as well.

I then commanded the fused mass of undead to come towards me.

Soon, an eerie chunk of meat emerged and came crawling over from the rubble.

They all crawled together, like caterpillars coming from everywhere, and piled themselves in front of the golem which stepped back.

Along with some gloopy sounds, the huge amount of flesh and bones were fusing together.

“Wha, what's going on…?”

In the time John stood there stunned, the lumps of flesh formed a giant humanoid.

It took the appearance of a red mud doll and was about as big as the golem.

On the surface of its form were people’s faces and limbs would churn up and down together.

As a finishing touch, the grudges, spirits, and dense miasma that had been drifring throughout the capital were contained in this flesh giant.

With that, the flesh giant transformed, flaunting black flames all over its body.

This variant was impossible to achieve with normal magic — a dead spirit in the form of a giant, a feat only achievable by the Demon Lord.

As I floated midair, I gestured to the motionless golem and spoke.

“Many of the people here are those that you have killed. Enjoy their hatred.”

As I finished saying that, the giant dead spirit ran forward, dripping blood.

It jumped towards the golem with beast-like movements.

“Damn it…!”

The golem immediately shot its ray of light.

The giant dead spirit faced it head-on without avoiding it.

Even as various holes formed on its body, it didn’t slow down and hit the golem.

“Guh?!”

The golem rolled on the rubble.

I managed to prevent the giant from knocking down the buildings that were still standing safe.

The beaten abdomen of the golem was dented and sparked.

The giant dead spirit was a muddle of corpses, and not a living being.

That was why it had no vitals.

Each and every part of it's body was formed by bones and muscles, and it burned through the grudges and spirits with miasma to convert them into its source of power.

Because of its very nature, it could only exist for a short time, but it had enough fighting power to match the golem.

The giant dead spirit pushed the golem down and mounted it.

Then it raised its fist and struck down with tremendous force.

It was a physical attack with tremendous strength.

The incomplete golem’s protection magic for defense was quickly breached.

Its massive fists broke through the metal body with each succeeding blow.

The golem’s internal structure was gradually exposed and started exploding consecutively.

Its self-repair couldn’t be done on time, and it was doubtful whether there were enough spare materials to repair it with.

“Damn it! Let go of meeee!”

John screamed and produced a ray of light from the golem’s finger.

It penetrated the giant dead spirit, but the holes were soon filled in by wriggling flesh.

Its fists never stopped striking.

The ground under the golem sank because of the shockwave.

“Damn it, Shit, Shit, DAMN IT! Why? Why did I end up like thiiiiis!”

The golem's hand struck the torso of the dead spirit giant.

Of course, its attacks didn’t cease.

Not only that, the golem’s fist also got stuck in the giant’s flesh and it was unable to break free.

John lost his composure.

As expected, he was also upset due to the unexpected attack.

The dead spirit giant had robbed the size superiority of the golem.

At that moment, the head of the giant dead spirit split.

It wasn’t damaged by the attack.

Rather, it voluntarily opened itself.

A mournful roar resounded from there.

“――――――“

Both of the giant dead spirit's hands grabbed onto the golem’s head.

It pulled it apart with all its power.

The metal head was squeezed by its fingers and crushed into fine dust.