Chapter 179

“Emily! Heal Mr. Sungyoon!”

Tim once again swung his ax toward the Golem as he shouted at Emily. He wasn’t really attacking with the intention to damage the Golem. His goal was to stop it from attacking Sungyoon again.

When the nearby region suddenly became a battlefield, people screamed as they scattered. However, Tim found this preferable. There would be less collateral damage now.

“Mr. Sungyoon! Stay with me!”

Emily placed her hand on Sungyoon’s body. But she pulled it back in surprise.

‘Cold!’

It was so cold near Sungyoon that she could see her own breath. Ignoring it, Emily immediately started to heal Sungyoon.

Woooooong!

Fortunately, the healing magic showed its effect. The cold energy around Sungyoon’s body subsided, and vitality started to return to his body.

Crunch!

Sungyoon looked annoyed as he ripped away the ice that remained stuck to his armor.

“Thank you very much, Ms. Emily.”

Sungyoon could finally move his fingers freely now. He was moving them a couple of times when it happened.

Boom!

Tim had been sent flying next to Sungyoon, and his body struck the building. Large cracks formed on the wall of the building.

“Koo-oohk! Shit!”

Thankfully, Tim wasn’t hurt too badly. He immediately got to his feet. His face was beet red, but it seemed it wasn't due to the pain but humiliation instead.

Boom!

The Golem had jumped and landed in front of them.

Tim and Sungyoon raised their weapons as they stood vigilant against the enemy. Emily and Grace stood behind them, and they prepared their spells.

An ominous silence descended.

The first one to move was the Golem. This time, one of its eyes turned red.

Sungyoon had seen this attack before. He moved his feet as he activated his cape.

Too-hwahk!

Four wings unfurled behind him, and he accelerated. In a flash, he had reached the Golem.

“Hoohp!”

He swung his halberd. The ax blade flew toward what Sungyoon assumed was its face.

Kah-ahng!

The sound of metal clashing against metal rang out. A pretty large wound appeared on the Golem's face, and its upper body was rocked backward.

Puh-uhng!

Flame erupted out of the Golem. It wasn't like a flamethrower where its range was limited. This powerful flame was shot far into the distance. However, the direction the flame was shot in was above the heads of the party members, thanks to Sungyoon knocking the Golem's upper body backward. Moreover, the flame didn’t have enough juice to reach the outer wall either.

“Ha-ahhhhhhhht!”

During all of this, Sungyoon continued attacking the Golem. He used whatever he had, the halberd, the sword, the shield, and the gauntlet, and just focused on pummeling the Golem. Unexpectedly, the Golem was sluggish in dodging his attacks.

Puh-uh-uhk!

When its flame spell ran out, the Golem started its counterattack. Its large arm swung toward Sungyoon.

Sungyoon dodged backward.

‘Its movement changed.’

Sungyoon assessed the Golem with sharp eyes.

There was a clear difference in its movement depending on if it was using its magic or not.

‘Can it be!’

Its movement became slow when it used its spell. It might be the Golem’s weakness. Sungyoon immediately tried to confirm his conjecture.

‘Shit!’

Sungyoon needed the Golem to use its magic to conduct his experiment. He had no idea what would trigger the Golem to use its magic. Moreover, if it used its spell, it might cause too much collateral damage to Armstrong.

If only a couple of buildings were destroyed, he was willing to risk it. However, the Golem possessed a spell capable of destroying the outer wall of Armstrong.

‘This reminds me of what happened in London.’

It wasn’t a memory he wanted to remember. He had recently gone through such a large incident, yet he was faced with another big incident once again. It was out of place, but he let out an empty laugh.

Even as he had such thoughts, Sungyoon was already moving.

Kah-ahng! Kah-ahng!

Sungyoon and Tim worked in harmony as they attacked the Golem. They attacked the Golem from either side as they pushed it back.

Boom!

Grace would use her spells from time to time. They damaged the nearby building as they fought, but it couldn’t be helped. Thankfully, everyone that needed to be evacuated had already been evacuated at that point.

‘I hope they don’t ask us to pay for the damage we are causing.’

If that were the case, the higher-ups of Armstrong and the owners of these buildings would extract every cent out of them.

Tuh-uhng!

“Ooh-oohk!”

The Golem struck Sungyoon’s abdomen, and the impact of the blow sent him flying into a building.

“Mr. Sungyoon!”

The Ross siblings and Grace yelled out in surprise. Sungyoon walked out of the rubbles. He waved his hand to indicate that he was ok.

‘Just a single strike is this powerful….’

Emily had cast a defensive barrier over Sungyoon. It was destroyed, but it had been his first layer of defense. It had reduced the damage. Sungyoon's armor was the second layer of defense. Despite both layers reducing the damage, he felt as if his internal organs were messed up.

Sungyoon ran back into the fight as Emily reapplied the defensive magic on him.

The party fought the Golem for a while. Small wounds started to acc.u.mulate as Sungyoon and Tim fought the Golem.

Emily wanted to immediately heal them, but she held herself back. She couldn’t waste her limited healing spells on minor wounds. If she did so, she might not have her healing spells when she truly needed it.

“Did you feel it, Mr. Tim?”

Sungyoon put some distance to the Golem for a brief moment as he spoke to Tim.

“Yes. It's getting weaker.”

It truly was welcoming news.

‘When Mrs. Ross fought the Golem, she said it became weaker as time passed.’

The Golem might not be suited for long fights. Even if that wasn’t true, there must be some other factor affecting it. However, the evaluation of the Golem would be done when the battle was over.

“Ms. Grace! Please strike it with your Ice magic!”

Grace held her staff up high as she focused on her Gem. Sungyoon went all out, so the Golem couldn’t attack Grace.

“Both of you! Please dodge!”

Sungyoon and Tim moved away from the Golem at the same time. The Golem tried to chase after Tim, who was slower than Sungyoon. However, its body started to freeze.

“Hell yeah!”

Tim shouted out loud. Until now, Grace’s magic had been ineffective because of the Golem’s terrifying magic resistance. However, the Golem’s movements were clearly slowing down now. The spell had ended, yet the ice kept hindering the movement of the Golem.

“Hoo-ahhhhht!”

Tim swung his ax.

Kwah-doohk!

The ax broke through the ice and hit the metallic surface of the Golem. Sungyoon also attacked the Golem. He held his sword with two hands and aimed at the head of the Golem.

Kwah--doo-doohk!

Tim kept hacking away at the Golem's body.

Ooh-doohk!

Sungyoon persistently kept stabbing his sword near its facial region.

Tuh-uhng!

The sharp edge of Tim’s shield hit the body of the Golem.

Kwah-jeek!

The halberd’s hook pierced its shoulder.

While the Golem couldn’t move properly, Sungyoon and Tim used all their strength to batter it.

This almost did not feel like a battle for them. It was like a job for them in how methodical they were being. However, this didn’t change the fact that there was a desperation behind their attacks.

Goo-goo-goo-goo-goohk!

The Golem’s hand was slowly coming to a stop as if it were a robot that was low on battery. Its six eyes started to lose its light too.

Boom!

Finally, the Golem fell to its knees. Its upper body started to tilt, and it fell over on the ground.

After it fell, it didn’t move an inch.

“I... Is it over?”

Tim kept his ax out as he mumbled.

Sungyoon approached the fallen Golem.

He kept some distance as he summoned his halberd.

Kwahk!

He brought it down. A wound formed on the Golem’s back, but the Golem didn’t move.

“Ha-ah! Shit!”

Sungyoon immediately sunk to the ground. Tim, Emily, and Grace did the same thing.

‘It isn’t even three yet.’

Sungyoon looked at his watch. Normally, this early in the morning, they would be resting in preparation to enter the Great Labyrinth.

‘It came out of nowhere.’

Sungyoon no longer felt sleepy.

Even if he got in his bed, he didn’t think he could sleep.

“Did they ring the siren for this guy?”

Tim approached and asked the question as he tapped the Golem with his foot.

“I’m not sure. If so, it might be a stroke of good luck in the midst of misfortune.”

If the Golem they had defeated was the cause behind the alarm, they had just solved Armstrong’s problem.

However, Sungyoon couldn’t get rid of the foreboding feeling he had. He remembered the earlier sight where multiple spells had erupted at the same time.

‘Is this Golem capable of using several spells at the same time?’

If so, why didn't it use that capability in this battle? Was it unable to use that particular ability because it had weakened?

‘I pray that's true.’

However, his fears came true. This incident wasn’t at an end.

Boom!

They heard an explosion in the distance. The party looked in the direction from where the sound had emanated.

Another flame erupted into the sky. A long distance away from the flame, Sungyoon saw a landslide hit buildings. Then he saw lightning and a gust of wind hit other buildings too.

“What if...”

Emily gulped before she spoke again.

“What if it isn’t just one Golem causing this mess in Armstrong? What if there are multiple Golems?”

A chill ran up everyone's spine. The four of them had gone through a lot of hardship to bring down one Golem. If there were more Golems...

“This is driving me nuts!”

Tim scratched his head hard. Either other Golems were attacking Armstrong right now or there might be some completely different threat that they didn’t know about. Either way, Armstrong's calamity hadn’t come to an end.

“What should we do?”

Grace asked the question. Sungyoon went deep into his thought. However, his foe wouldn’t even give him the time to think.

Booooom!

Something once again fell in front of them. Was it a Golem? Sungyoon’s party readied themselves to fight once again.

However, it wasn’t a Golem. To be precise, it wasn’t the Golem that Sungyoon’s party was familiar with.

“… What the hell is that?”

Tim expressed what everyone was feeling at that moment.

The Golem in front of them was one of the two other Golems that had appeared alongside the eight normal Golems. Its appearance was completely different from the previous Golems.

“We should call it Super Golem.”

Tim spoke in a joking manner. However, it was clear that he was losing his composure. It was an act of bravado he had done to forcefully expel his fear.

Ssssk!

The Super Golem’s eyes headed toward Tim.

Sungyoon got goosebumps when he saw its movement.

The normal Golems were fast and strong. However, there was a mechanical quality to their movements. But the Super Golem’s movements were smooth.

‘At a glance, it looks like it's made out of similar metal as the normal Golems...’

It was made out of hard metal, yet it was moving in such a smooth manner. Sungyoon had no idea how it was possible. He was having a hard time accepting it even though he was witnessing it with his own eyes.

Ssssk!

The Super Golem looked as if it was getting in a position to fight. Sungyoon’s party became tense.

Boooom!

Suddenly, the sound of an explosion rang out. Sungyoon quickly turned his head. Tim was embedded in the wall of a building. His sturdy shield was caved in, and the arm holding the shield was bent at an unnatural angle.

“Cough!”

A stream of blood erupted from Tim’s mouth. The arm, which carried the shield, had blocked the attack, and was consequently broken. And as if that wasn’t enough, the force from the attack had caused massive injuries to his internal organs.

Sungyoon instantly got a cold sweat. He looked at the Super Golem, which was standing where Tim used to be.

It was a single blow. Tim was taken out of the battle with just a single blow by the Super Golem. It wasn’t some special attack. The Super Golem got close to Tim and had punched him. That was it.

Its speed was so fast that Tim couldn’t even react, and it was so powerful that Tim couldn't even defend.

Sssssk!

The Super Golem’s head started to turn once again. This time its face turned toward Emily and Grace, who looked scared out of their minds.

‘No!’

Sungyoon accelerated. He didn’t hesitate as he put himself between the Super Golem and the two women. He put up his shield.

Booom!

He felt as if all his strength was drained out of his body. His body was like a marionette with its strings cut, and he couldn't move it.

Even as he flew at high speeds, his eyes were still receiving information. The scenery around him was passing by so fast that it didn’t look real.

Boom!

The scenery came to a stop. At a closer look, it seemed his body had come to a stop after hitting the remains of a collapsed building.

It was as if he was seeing everything in third person as his body rolled across the ground. It almost felt like a dream.

However, the pain Sungyoon soon felt confirmed that this was reality.

“Kooooooooohk!”

He gritted his teeth as he groaned and quickly checked the status of his body. An arm and a leg were bent at odd angles. Moreover, he could tell that a lot of bones in his body were broken.

Sungyoon looked at his opponent, who had put him in this state. The Super Golem was looking at him.

“Mr. Sungyoon!”

“M... Mr. Sungyoon….”

Grace and Emily realized what had happened. Sungyoon quickly activated his healing magic.

His pain was dampened, but he couldn’t recover in an instant. As his bones somewhat set themselves, he stood up. Of course, pain followed.

However, he couldn’t care about such trivial things at that moment.

“Ms. Emily! Please heal Mr. Ti—”

However, the Super Golem moved before Sungyoon could finish his sentence. It closed the distance and threw a punch.

Sungyoon had blocked its earlier punch through pure luck, and he hadn’t recovered from his injury yet. There was no way he could block this attack.

The fist carrying indomitable strength flew toward Sungyoon’s face. In a moment, the fist would burst his head open like a red pomegranate.

For some reason, Sungyoon felt as if time had come to a stop. He could see the fist in slow motion.

Ba-dump!

His heart had come to a stop a long time ago, yet he thought he felt it beat.

Too-hwahk!

Sungyoon became surprised. His face should have been blown up due to the incoming cannon. However, his face was fine. Surprisingly, he had tilted his head to dodge the fast and powerful attack of the Super Golem.

However, he didn’t even have the time to digest this surprising information. The Super Golem followed up with a second attack.

But Sungyoon couldn’t feel that same sensation from earlier.

The Super Golem’s fist once again flew toward his face.

Kwahhhhhhhng!

However, after the exchange, the Super Golem was the one that was sent flying. It came to a stop after plowing through several buildings.

Sungyoon’s brain could not follow the sudden development, but he did his best to focus his mind and make his brain work. He was successful in saying the name of the figure that had shown up in front of him.

“… Sir Russell.”

The strongest Connector of England stood in front of Sungyoon.