Case 20: Golem genocide.

Case 20: Golem genocide.

rustle

Day turned to night, and even though the Zircon Forest at night is scary, walking with my party like this is not so bad anymore.

''Ugh...'' I stretch out my arms and wings lazily, trying to clear the sleepiness away.

Ah... Stretching my wings like this feels so good. I'm so used to having my wings now that I would feel weird without them.

''You really slept for more than half a day, huh...'' Ariel says, flying beside me.

''Yeah...''

So I may have overslept today. I'm a person who usually sleeps close to ten hours or more a day in the first place, and it's been half a month since I last slept in a bed. It's inevitable.

Either way, the distance from our cave to the tomb is quite far. We've been walking for over ten minutes, according to my estimation. During that period, we were attacked by numerous monsters, ranging from simple goblins, wolves, and some lizard thingies to even orcs, and a troll. We've certainly cleared out the monsters surrounding our cave, but outside of that zone is a monster-infested forest.

Most of the monsters were cleared out by Mister Slen, who had somehow gotten to level 14 while I was sleeping, and now he's level 16. It's scarily fast if you ask me. His skills did level up a few times, but he hasn't bought any new skills besides [Inspect] yet, I wonder why.

But the important thing is that our journey is very smooth.

Another ten minutes of walking, and we arrived at the location.

''Hoh...'' Skely rubs his chin, marveling at the tomb in front of us.

The whole thing is around two stories tall, the size... Is about the same as the gym I and Chloe used to go to, which is pretty large. From outside, it seems to be made of cobble, with moss and vines everywhere, and of course, unknown patterns on the walls.

In the first place, we're not sure if this is a tomb at all, Ariel just said that it would be cool to call it that way. But the reason why we chose this instead of hunting normal monsters is because of the possible rewards within it. According to our skeleton friend, anywhere that has golems guarding it is bound to have some kind of treasure.

So here we are.

''Phew...'' I let out a small sigh to clear my head the last time. Focus, focus.

Immediately, I can see two golems guarding the tunnel-like entrance. They seem to be smaller than the one I fought back in Skely's cave, and their color is a normal grey instead of bright yellow.

[Golem Lv.19]

[Golem Lv.19]

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Name: --

Race: Golem Title: --

Level: 19

HP: 70/70 MP: 50/50

STR: 4.0 INT: 5.0

AGI: 3.5 STA: 4.0

Skill: [Pain Immunity Lv.10],

[Status Condition immunity Lv.10], [Dark Magic Lv.3],

[Smash Lv.3].

State: Active.

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The statuses of those two are exactly the same. And they can use dark magic? That's ominous.

Immediately, all our eyes turn to a certain low slab on the ground right in front of the barrier, not very noticeable, but we saw it and no one bothered to step on it. So it's a trap after all.

So we all move back a bit according to Ariel's instructions, and when I throw a stone at the slab-

THUD

The whole passageway rumbles.

Together with loud creaks, a giant golem, at least twice the size of the small ones, drops down from the ceiling, creating a gaping hole in the ceiling. It has two pairs of arms, each arm holding a sword, on its chest is an intensely glowing purple star-like core.

A brief glance at its status screen tells me that this one is just bigger and stronger, but it also has [Protection], allowing it to generate barriers, so an extra step, I suppose.

''Ariel and Skely, cast your magic.'' I say calmly as the golem begins to move forward. ''I and Mister Slen will fish its barrier out.''

'''' Roger! ''''

Before the golem can even begin to swing its swords at us, I and Mister Slen immediately and simultaneously blinks right in front of the purple core, catching the golem off guard. It hurriedly casts a barrier in front of its chest as I and Mister Slen thrust our weapons at it.

Good, now its barrier is on cooldown-

crack

''Huh?''

Contrary to my expectations, our weapons smoothly pierce through the barrier and beautifully lodge themselves into the core.

[You have defeated a Lv.25 Guardian Golem]

[Proficiency achieved a certain level]

[Being: Aurora Lv.19 has become Lv.20]

Even before this one... Was it always this easy...?

''Suspiciously easy.'' I jump back and let the golem's body fall, while Mister Slen teleports away like usual.

It's most likely some kind of trap.

''It's a trap.''

''Yeah, it's a trap.''

Seems like the siblings also think so. The barrier is gone though.

''I'll go first.''

I have to give Ariel a raise later, she's so brave and diligent, but it's not like I pay her anything anyway.

'''' !!! ''''

Right when Ariel goes closer to the door, it suddenly flings open, revealing a large room with dimly lit blue stones attached to the smooth marble walls.

[Huh?]

But that's not the important thing, because standing above the mountain of giant golem corpses is a short humanoid creature. It has metallic grey skin, a bald head, and as it turns to us, I see its face has a distinct lack of anything other than a creepily large mouth filled with sharp teeth.

[Hoh- HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!]

Its mouth opens even larger as it laughs crazily, hugging its belly as if this is funny.

[Ah... New preys spotted.]