The ceiling was shattered and what descended was a stout, chubby, metal golem about three meters long. It was clearly heavy, and in fact, cracks appeared on the floor from the impact of its landing, with the sound of it cracking echoing in real time.
“Hey, John, I have to ask, is that thing meant to go on a rampage indoors?”
“Hell no! Look, it’s coming!”
“Whoa!?”
At the end of the golem’s arms were countless metal tubes. As they began to rotate at high speed, an unimaginable force of debris was launched at us, far more powerful than anything a person could use.
“Wait, wait, wait! Isn’t that a lot more powerful than before!? The floor is seriously going to give out!”
“Is it trying to bury us alive by destroying the entire building? If hiding the evidence is the goal, it might intend to level the entire place.”
“What do we do then!?”
“Even though it’s not the latest model, there’s no way to deal with a military battle golem. Mine and Canal’s shields won’t last more than ten seconds.”
“Tch. Then…you two get out of here first!”
I stepped forward to protect not only Canal but also John. The pressure from the shower of debris increased, and if I were to release my banishment skill, my body would be reduced to mincemeat in the blink of an eye.
“…Are you sure?”
“Yeah! Three, two, one…”
Without looking back, I braced myself and drew my sword. I charged at the golem with the [Hermes Dash] and slashed at the base of the golem’s left arm with the [Dawnbreaker] in an upward motion.
(It’s hard! But—)
The enemy’s hardness was higher than I thought, and my sword couldn’t cut through it. However, the impact absorbed by my [Orbit Reflector] was at its maximum capacity!
“Take this!”
I forced the golem’s arm off by adding half of the impact to my own. The huge chunk of metal flew through the air, and the floor shattered when it fell.
“Go!”
John took the opportunity of the collapsing footing to retreat with Canal. The golem, which had fallen unstably, aimed its remaining right arm at them, but I wasn’t going to let it attack.
“I WON’T LET YOU!”
I used the remaining half of the impact to kick the golem’s right arm away. As a result, the golem’s massive body fell, the floor completely gave way, and the entire building began to collapse.
“UOOOOOOHH!!!?”
Even as it fell, the golem continued to shoot debris at me. Desperately defending myself from the pouring rubble and debris, I suddenly felt my foot touch a piece of rubble.
“Here’s my chance!”
Normally, kicking a piece of rubble that wasn’t fixed in place wouldn’t give me much thrust. However, if I activate the [Orbit Reflector] at my toes, my body will shoot out faster than the golem’s flying debris.
“Pierce through!”
I thrusted [Dawnbreaker] straight head, beautifully piercing through the golem’s abdomen. I clung to the golem as we both spun around, and when the golem was on the ground side, I activated the “Orbit Reflector” to finish it off. The launched golem crashed to the ground with a thunderous noise…and I fell after it.
BOOOOOM!
In complete darkness, I felt an intense impact all over my body and waited. When it became quiet after a few minutes, I activated the [Orbit Reflector] again to finish it. The golem crashed into the ground with a thunderous noise… and I fell down as well.
Gooooooon!!
In the pitch-black darkness, I waited, feeling a strong impact all over my body. After a few minutes of silence, I reactivated the [Orbit Reflector] and crawled out from under the rubble.
“Phew… I made it!”
Even though it’s nighttime, the area was quite bright due to fires sparking from the debris. This made it easy to see the things I’d rather not.
“Haha, what a disaster…”
The building I had infiltrated was gone, and the surrounding buildings had also sustained significant damage. The ground had collapsed, and rubble filled the crater.
This is awful. I don’t think even a rampaging dragon could cause this much damage. If anyone else were caught up in this, they would undoubtedly die.
Crash!
“Huh? Hey, hey, hey!”
I turned around at the sound and saw the golem, with a hole in its belly, standing there. Its body was battered, sparks were flying from its joints, and it didn’t seem capable of fighting…
“Are you… going to explode or something!?”
The once sleek and black golem now appeared strangely red-hot and swollen. The word “cover-up” that John mentioned flashed through my mind.
“Dangerous!?”
Without any hesitation, I kicked the ground with all my strength. I activate [Hermes Dash], [Mirage Shift], [Invincible], [Magia Absorption], and pOrbit Reflector all at once]. Despite all this, I felt death closing in from behind.
Bzzzzzzzzt!
“Guh!”
As I tumbled onto the ground, I saw a white light that reached just in front of my feet. The light, shining like the sun, scorched everything in its path, leaving a pungent smell and causing the debris to disappear.
There’s no trace of the building anymore. The concave ground had a glass-like melted surface, yet there was no residual heat. In fact, there was no impact outside the range of the light, which must be due to some special magic tool.
I wonder how effective my banishment skills would be against this? I don’t even want to think about testing it.
“Hahaha… the magic tools of the future are no joke…”
With a forced smile, I stand up. I’ve managed to survive the night, but my problems are far from solved.
“They saw my face, and Canal’s too… What should we do?”
It seems our enemies are famous people in this world. Dealing with such an organization is going to be difficult. If I only had to take down Ghost… or was it Curon? I could locate jim with the [Akashic Compass], infiltrate with [Mirage Shift], and assassinate him, but that won’t be enough since they’re not a simple bandit group.
“…sigh, I’ll think about it later. For now, I need to regroup with Canal… or should I head back to the office?”
I realized I hadn’t specified how to meet up with John and briefly pondered the issue. I could track him with the [Akashic Compass], but I don’t want to stalk someone who helped Canal recklessly.
As for pursuers, John should be fine. He struggled because he was cornered indoors, but outside, he can handle even a golem.
“In that case, I guess I’ll head back to the office. If she doesn’t return by morning, I’ll go out and search for her again.”
Brushing off the dust from my clothes, I started walking towards the office. Ideally, I’d like to buy a small gift along the way, but in this world, money information was stored in the crystals on our wrists, so cash was hardly in circulation. It might be possible with the sort of person I met earlier, but it’s unlikely that a regular store would accept my junk as payment for their goods.
“Well then, time to go back and get some sleep….. Haaah~~~”
As I yawned lightly, I slowly made my way back home, walking down a strangely empty street despite all the commotion that just took place.
