CH 44

The passage was big enough that we could walk side by side, and swinging a spear doesn’t seem to be a problem.

After a while, when there was no more light from outside, I looked around and saw that no one had a lantern-like light source, but there was enough light that I could vaguely see the path.

『 When exploring a dungeon, you have to scatter stones called 《 Stardust Stones 》 along the path.』

I was told by Felicy at a tool store to take the pile of jelly beans like stone, and those stones I bought are called stardust stones that were giving out light. Now that I saw them glowing dimly in the dark and illuminating everyone, I understood how it is used.

Depending on the adventurer, there are those who scatter them in the middle of the road and those who leave them at the end of the corridor, but the party I saw at the entrance seemed to be the type that left them at the end.

「 Toto-chan, it will a bit dark like this all the time from now on, will you be okay?」

「 I’m fine. I can see just fine 」

Felicy, who was moving ahead of me, was worried about my condition, but if it’s only this much then I can manage.

I don’t know how bright the light this thing gives off is, but it’s about half as big as a soybean seed, and I can barely make out my surroundings from the light coming from it.

However, the visibility was not so bad for me since there are also light sources from all over the place.

「 Ran-tan, is there any reason why you are using a brighter light source? 」

「 There is 」

「 Why? 」

「 Well, because if I only rely on the stardust stones we might end up getting attacked unnecessarily by other monsters. Oh, if any of you get lost then we can’t locate you by only relying on stardust stones but by the light of the lantern 」

「 I see 」

There is a reason why there should be at least one person carrying proper lighting, unless it’s a party where everyone participates in the battle. And if we only rely on the light from the stardust stones, when facing a fast-moving monster or something like that, we might lose sight of it.

As I was walking along thinking about this, I saw Felicy was just a little bit away from me, so I ran up to her.

As I proceeded to check out the stardust stone with the red shaded lines, I naturally encountered a monster, but as expected, it didn’t have a chance and was killed instantly.

We encountered giant spiders, snakes, and bats along the way, just as we had heard before entering the cave.

As we walked along the rocky surface, the sound of my boots echoed in the air.

However, the place was really quiet and there’s no sign of anyone but us, so I guess the dungeon is pretty big, because there must have been several parties besides us.

Every once in a while we could hear rustling sounds not coming from us.

「 Front right, behind the rocks, enemy! 」

「 Roger! 」

It was peaceful, and there was no sign of anything, but still Lettie and Kana were on the lookout behind me.

After an hour and a half, we found the stairs leading to the lower level, probably because there was hardly any combat.

「 Oooh, that was fast 」

「 I should thank them later for the information they gave us 」

「 So, is the golem up ahead 」

「 Nn 」

Kana squealed with delight, Lettie showed a satisfied smile, and Felicy sounded nervous. I responded briefly, not really thinking about it, of course.

As we descended the stairs, I looked around in surprise at the sudden change in scenery. It was now an undulating meadow with a clear sky, as if we had stepped outside.

The stairs now look like the entrance to a cave in a cliff, but the upward staircase, and the fact that we just came down from those stairs, make us realize we are inside a dungeon.

However, this space seems to be in the middle of a very high cliff, surrounded by rocks, and this space must be forming a circular area.

This space itself is so large that even my eyes can’t see far into it, so I can only imagine.

In front of us, there was a large building with a row of Western-style columns, and a few steps in front of that, in front of the building, there is a silver armor that sits kneeling with its head bowed down, with shining blue patterns in various places.

It was around the size of an adult person, but it looks much smaller than what people would call a 《 Golem 》, and there were corpses near it.

「 …… Looks like there were people reckless enough to challenge it 」

Since there are six bodies visible from here, it’s probably one party that maybe failed to retreat. I tried looking for signs of life but no results.

「 Hmm, it seems this wasn’t caused by a blunt type attack 」

Kana points at a corpse and mutters. An adventurer whose torso has been cut in half and died with a shocked expression pasted on his face. Surely a blunt attack wouldn’t do this.

「 We’re getting close, Kana. Get ready to intercept. If the worst happens, and we might have to retreat, I’ll give the order. Be sure not to miss it 」

「 Alright 」

「 I’m ready, too 」

「 I’m always okay to go, too 」

We all started walking, and when the distance between us and the golem was about 20 meters, we suddenly heard a beeping sound like a machine starting up, it was something I hadn’t heard since I came to this world.

「 It’s coming! 」

As soon as Lettie shouted, the golem rushed into the area at great speed, holding a huge two-handed sword, probably about a meter and 50 centimeters long.

『 No, that’s bad 』

Perhaps in response to that running armor, Helvetia suddenly appeared beside me and made such an ominous statement. Stop doing that.

「 I see. The warning was for the first encounter. Only the first……! 」

Lettie tried to catch the golem’s sword with her buckler, but it was more powerful than she had imagined, and she was knocked away.

To prevent the attacker from catching up to her, Kana used the reach of her spear to thrust from behind, and Felicy fired a fireball from further back.

「 Uwah 」

However, neither the spear nor the magic could penetrate at all. The golem stopped for a moment due to being pushed, but quickly twisted itself to get out of the spear’s path and swung its sword at Kana.

『 Toto, change with them now. That golem is too much for them to handle 』

Helvetia told me that as she watched Kana evade the large sword with a back step. Wow, that golem is that strong, I wonder if I can fight it.

「 I’m sorry. Lettie, I think you should step back a little 」

「 Sorry, please 」

As I ran in front of them, the golem seemed to automatically switch its aim to me. I wonder if it was aiming for the closest target. If true, that would be convenient.

Moving forward at full speed, I hit the golem with all my might. The sound that came after the impact was unthinkable, knowing that it was hit by bare hands. It was like metal against metal, and the golem spun around the air a few times before hitting the ground and collapsing, but it stood up quickly, seemingly not having taken any damage.

「 So……hard!! 」

It’s way too hard, what is it made of?

Even though I hit it as hard as I could… a normal monster would have been blown to pieces!

『 I knew it. The Sangues golem. 』

Helvetia was calmly observing the situation with her arms crossed.

I’d really like to know what you know about that though. I don’t think I can do any damage with its hardness. Don’t you think so too?

The golem, which moved with a wobbly, mechanical motion, did not sheath its sword, but suddenly started wielding its two-handed sword with one hand and with more precision.

（ Gee, I was so careless! ）

I had expected him to attack after regaining his stance, but I was struck by the sword and slapped away.

I had planned to position my arm to catch it, but the sword was faster than I expected. I was not even able to parry it.

「 Toto-chan!? 」

「 I’m fine 」

Its defense is incredibly high, but the offense doesn’t seem to be very high. It seems I don’t even have a scratch on my arm, so I guess there is the option of us trying to beat each other up endlessly, but well, I definitely don’t want to do that.

I was flung for about ten meters, but I spun around and landed on the ground to show that I was safe, however while I was doing that, it switched its aim to Lettie.

「 Fuh! 」

But for the second time, she seemed to have been able to handle the situation well, and after lightly fending off the blade, she took a few steps back to take advantage of the gap created.

As I ran in front of Lettie again the golem targeted me again, so it seems to target the people closest to it just as I have expected. Its head, which had been facing Lettie, suddenly turned in my direction.

「 Sorry about that 」

「 I can’t believe Toto-chan wasn’t even barely scratched by it. Should we pull out? 」

「 Ummm, can everyone, hold on for a bit> 」

It immediately moved to intercept with its sword, but the golem wasn’t that powerful, and as I braced myself for an unexpected attack, even if it was fast-moving, it was still more than enough for me to handle.

It doesn’t seem to have any non-physical attack methods, so I shouldn’t take any damage if I were to fight it properly.

…… I can’t do any damage either to it though.