CH 252

Episode 252 – Elemental Golem

“It’s a good combination, but it can’t defeat the Elemental Golem in the end.” (Rosalie)

“It’s helpful that it can create an opening for you to destroy a part of the Elemental Golem. But even without that, at least it can shave off some of its endurance. Sorry, Rosalie-san, but this is where the fight will start for real.” (Lewin)

The hazy, gradually transforming figure of the Elemental Golem and its weapon could be seen through the billowing smoke. A red crest appeared on its chest, and its eyes began to shine gold.

This was the second form of the Elemental Golem, which would appear once it had lost a fixed amount of stamina. Its speed, offensive ability, and even its movements would become like a real, living creature, so it was an extremely troublesome form to deal with.

“Please leave it to me. We’ll keep the battle formation as is.” (Rosalie)

“Got it. If it gets dangerous, please call out to me. We’ll switch immediately.” (Lewin)

After a quick exchange, I backed up from the Elemental Golem and switched positions. At the strategy meeting we had had in the past, we’d discussed having Rosalie and I keep it in check once it had transformed into its second form, but Rosalie had decided just now that she alone was enough to pull it off.

In that case, I would be playing the role of keeping the balance of the battle from a mid-range position, which I was very grateful for, but… when I thought about what would happen if she were to get injured, I felt a bit scared.

While feeling a bit of anxiety welling from within, I followed the movements of the Elemental Golem with my eyes. It seemed to be ready for battle, as it approached us with its massive, lumbering body.

As expected, its movements were a few levels faster than before. At the very moment that I thought I saw the glitter of the red core buried at the center of its body, it generated a bunch of small boulders in midair, which began to fly at us with tremendous force.

“[Rapidfire].” (Aruna)

Aruna immediately retaliated with her bow and arrow, shooting all of the small boulders out of the air, but… it seemed like there was more coming.

The Elemental Golem brandished its greatsword at Rosalie, seemingly unconcerned that Aruna had blocked its magic. It swung the greatsword downwards with a huge motion, digging out a hole in the ground. The strength behind that swing of its greatsword was so overwhelming that I could feel the gust of wind it had produced from where I was standing.

However, Rosalie didn’t take a step back, and she didn’t even seem to be in the slightest hurry, even against this Elemental Golem which seemed like a completely different monster compared to before.

She was responding well to the irregularly changing attacks. Although she wasn’t able to switch over to offense, she appeared to have plenty of leeway.

“Lewin, I’m going to start aiming an attack at its core.” (Aruna)

""

I was sure that Aruna could easily destroy the core, but I had to support her as much as I could by using items to fight back, like by boosting Rosalie’s abilities with a Quick Potion or Pound Potion.

“Left kick, then a downward swing with its right arm. Reverse slash stance―the core is shining, so magic is coming.” (Lewin)

“Yup. I’m firing. [Power Arrow].” (Aruna)

I was standing in a place where I could see all of the Elemental Golem, so I reported the information in real time to Rosalie and Aruna. Since the Vitalgrass Seed was the most effective of the items, I threw it when the Elemental Golem was in a reverse slash stance, which obstructed its attack and made an opening for Aruna to attack the core.

The Vitalgrass Seed took root on its back and began to grow quickly over the Elemental Golem’s body, wrapping around its joints and feet where it began to corrode away at its vitality. Because of that, the Golem’s movements were temporarily halted, creating a gap for Rosalie to drive the hammer upwards into its jaw. Then, in the time that it had taken to try and get up, Aruna had shot at its core.

As soon as the Elemental Golem had returned to its feet, it proceeded to tear off the entangling Vitalgrass from the root. Even so, the Vitalgrass had already demonstrated more than enough of an effect.

From there, the battle unfolded perfectly. Rosalie maintained the aggro and drew its attacks with her abilities, which were further boosted by my items, while Aruna kept on attacking the core and dealing with any of its magic.

With all of our roles performed neatly, we dealt with the Elemental Golem’s second form without the slightest semblance of danger. Eventually, the core was pierced, and the Elemental Golem collapsed and tumbled to the ground like a mere pile of rocks, as if its violent movements just now had all been a lie.

“Easy peasy.” (Aruna)

“Looks like we managed to defeat it safely. Among all the monsters I’ve fought so far, this one was probably among the top three strongest.” (Lewin)

“I was also surprised! In the past, my party was half-destroyed by it, but now I finally managed to defeat it. I was amazed not only by my own movements, but also by both of your strengths.” (Rosalie)

As we surveyed the scattered ruins of the Elemental Golem, we each recounted our own impressions. In my own personal opinion, the strongest monsters to me were the Venom Troll and the Angry Wolves when I encountered them for the first time. I was surprised that we managed to defeat the Elemental Golem so easily. Perhaps it was due to our experience with the sudden encounter of the Peak Gorilla that all of us were able to fight without losing our composure.

“It was just as the rumors said. The Peak Gorilla was definitely more troublesome! At least based on looks, the Peak Gorilla seems more like the Boss of the canyon area.” (Rosalie)

“I agree. The Elemental Golem alone was stronger, but dealing with all those Canyon Monkeys while also dealing with the Peak Gorilla was more troublesome.” (Lewin)

Hmm… The Spirit Stone rare drop didn’t appear, but what dropped instead was the Golem’s Eye, which could be sold at a high price.

“It’s the Golem’s Eye. The Spirit Stone would have been better, but this is still quite a good item.” (Lewin)

“The Golem’s Eye is good! It has a supplementary effect and can be used on equipment to raise the durability value. Lewin, why don’t you put it on your gear?” (Rosalie)

“We can do that later, let’s hurry and head back.” (Aruna)

“You’re right. We can decide what to do with it later, so let’s make preparations to head back.” (Lewin)

Aruna, who didn’t seem to express any kind of interest in these kinds of things, interrupted our conversation, so we started to make preparations to return instead. It was easy to lose focus after defeating the Boss, but we still had to make our way back through the 22nd and 21st layers. We needed to remain focused until we made it back to the Safe Area.

After I had warned the two of them about this, we began to retrace our steps back through the Dungeon.