‘She ran away…’
Jade watched Alina’s retreating figure vanish into the back alley, his shoulders slumped in dejection.
He knew. No matter how stubbornly he went after her, she would not waver.
It would be easy for him to use his authority to drag her into the Silver Blades kicking and screaming. But to do so would be meaningless. There’s nothing as brittle as a party formed against its will. At the very least, he would have to propose a condition that would make her want to be a part of the Blades.
What that condition could be, Jade had no idea. Alina wasn’t the kind of person to be swayed by money or material goods.
‘What to do…’
He muttered and let out a heavy sigh, when suddenly a loud, violent tremor shook the back alley.
Jade’s brows knitted in confusion. The loud shaking continued, and a sinking feeling ran through his chest—that’s when it happened.
GOAAAAAAAAH!
Jade opened his eyes wide as an ear-piercing, inhuman roar rang out.
‘A monster?!’
At the same time, he heard someone yelling in the alley:
‘Look out! There’s a monster on the loose in the main square!’
Without listening to the rest, Jade dashed out of the alley. From the quiet back street, the square was a crucible of chaos, as townsfolk, who were just on their way home, screamed and tumbled over each other as they tried to flee.
Jade had already spotted the abnormality. A rugged face of rock was peering out from above the orange rooftops. It was the head of a giant Clay Golem.
‘That’s…’
Pushing through the throng of people trying to escape, he made his way to the main square. He remembered the slumbering monster from when he passed through earlier. Had the sleep spell failed, causing the golem to wake up?
Either way, this was no place for a monster to rum amok. Jade made a stern face and rushed into the main square.
‘Hey, what on earth is—’
Jade swallowed his words as he saw the wretched state the main square was in. Cobbles torn from the pavement and scattered about, benches flattened, and Ifühl’s symbol, the giant crystal gate, leaning at an unnatural angle, a large crack running through it.
But the biggest change was the many adventurers lying defeated on the ground.
The clay golem’s sinister eyes gazed down at the fallen adventurers at its feet. Clasping its hands together, the rock monster raised its fist high above its head.
‘Eek!’
The clay golem swung its fist down on the adventurers. Their armour and weapons were broken in various places, and they could do nothing but look dazedly up at the approaching fist.
‘Get down!’
Jade readied the shield on his back and jumped out in front of them. Immediately after, the blow—the combination of its tremendous weight and centrifugal force—slammed into his shield. A tremendous impact assaulted Jade. His whole body trembled, but he managed to block the attack completely.
‘J—Jade?!’
‘Retreat while you still can!’
Jade shouted, and as the fallen scrambled to their feet, the clay golem’s eyes fell on a single retreating adventurer. As he watched its movements, Jade unsheathed the sword at his waist.
‘Beguiling Light!’
The spell Jade had cast was a special type of magic for tanks which affects the opponent’s consciousness and steals their attention. As Jade plunged his sword cloaked in mana-light into the ground, the light shone even stronger, and the Clay Golem, about to pursue the adventurer, suddenly stopped. The rugged face of stone turned towards Jade.
‘I took the golem’s aggro! This’ll keep him from leaving the square!’
GOAAAAAAAAH!
With a ground-shaking roar, the golem shifted its target to Jade and threw a punch at him.
‘Ugh!’
Jade’s shield caught the blow, but his firmly planted feet were pushed slightly back. Such a tremendous attack. If he hadn’t been a tank with high defence, a single blow would’ve knocked him down—or worse, killed him instantly.
‘Mister Jade…it’s impossible…to take it…on your own. This guy’s a raid boss!’
As he was being being carried over someone’s shoulder, an adventurer spoke in a broken voice. The man, who was holding a shield, was likely one of the adventurers who had put the golem to sleep and transported it to the square.
‘A raid boss? You’ve got to be kidding me!’
Jade groaned bitterly and looked up at the clay golem.
Raid bosses are monsters with a distinctly large body. They are powerful foes with colossal physiques and unusually high physical strength and attack power, said to be more than twice as strong as a regular boss. They’re not thought to be beatable by a single party, and you’ll need to gather at least three parties and prepare several key roles such as tanks and healers to have a chance of defeating one.
‘Got it. So, what’s this all about?’
‘I haven’t the faintest idea. We put the golem to sleep to get the materials, but… It should’ve stayed under for three days at least. And yet, suddenly, it was running amok.’
‘Then, this is—’
‘Hyahaha! I knew you’d come, you piece-of-shit tank!’
A laughing voice from above cut Jade’s words short. Jade recalled hearing it before. He looked up to see the figure of a man with a tattoo on the left half of his face standing on the golem’s shoulder—Slay Ghost, the man who had been ranting and raving at Ifühl Counter this afternoon.
‘You!’
‘Hehe, a beautiful view, wouldn’t you say? What do you think of my transcendent skill, “Somnambulant Saboteur”?’
Jade guessed everything upon hearing Slay’s conceited words.
‘Are you controlling this guy, Slay?!’
‘Bingo. I’ve got this guy under the effect of my hypnosis. He’s going wild in his dreams!’
‘Do you realise what you’re doing? If you let a golem loose in the middle of the town…’
‘Oh, I know. I know full well. I’m gonna crush this town along with you and that sickening receptionist!’
Crack, crack. A sinister sound reached Jade’s ears. White, mineral-like things began to form in the gaps between the jagged rocks of the golem’s legs, covering them completely in just an instant, making them even bigger than before. The Clay Golem raised its leg.
‘D—Death Crush!’
‘No way. If that ability gets used here…’
The adventurers in the square cried, their faces turning pale.
‘That ability can even kill a tank instantly! Don’t block it! Run away, Jade!’
‘Run away?’
Jade, too, was aware of the bizarre nature of the attack. His sixth sense was on the level of that of beasts, and it told him to dodge. However, looking around, there were a large number of adventurers collapsed on the ground, unable to get up on their own. If he didn’t block the attack here, they would certainly die.
As he readied his shield, Jade looked up at the underside of the gargantuan white leg as it approached with a thunderous roar, and shouted:
‘Activate skill: “Ironclad Guardian”!’
Jade’s entire body was cloaked in red skill-light. Instantly, his large shield and armour hardened, increasing his defence. Immediately afterwards, the Clay Golem crushed Jade underfoot.
‘Jade!!’
No, Jade barely managed to stop the blow.
While the impact caused the ground at his feet to cave in, the adventurers in the square gasped at Jade’s figure as he withstood the giant’s stomp with inhuman defence.
‘A—awesome. He took the Death Crush head on!’
Jade’s face grew pale. Even though he was able to withstand the blow this time, he knew that the longer this battle went on, the more his fatigue would build up. Eventually, he wouldn’t be able to take any more hits. Jade glanced at the cracked crystal gate. Using it to teleport out of there would be difficult.
‘Tsk. There’s nothing to it. We’ll have to defeat it here! I’ll deal with this guy’s attacks! In the meantime, go and gather more adventurers!’
‘B—but, you can’t possibly—’
‘The longer this draws out the more disadvantaged we are. Hurry up and go!’
‘Understood!’
While the adventurers looked guiltily over their shoulders, they dispersed from the square.
‘Oh, there it is. “Ironclad Guardian”. Fending off a raid boss attack all on your own. I wouldn’t expect anything less from the Blades!’
Looking down from the giant’s shoulder, Slay stroked his chin in admiration, but his expression was serene as he chuckled to himself grinningly.
‘But without a healer, or a sub-tank to switch with, how long can you last against a raid boss?’
Slay was right on the point. When defeating a strong raid boss, the proper method is to pass the aggro around between multiple tanks, so that no one tank is taking all the hits, and to alternate between them to draw out the battle. No matter how talented a tank may be, if they take relentless hit after relentless hit, they will quickly run out of steam.
‘Hehe. Do you get it now, you piece-of-shit tank? You picked the wrong guy to fuck with!’
Unable to trample its prey, the clay golem lost its temper, raising a scream and stepping up its attack on Jade. The square trembled with each blow Jade blocked. Withstanding the attacks, Jade led the golem in a direction where there were no wounded.
‘Haha, trying to cover those small-fry who can’t move? Must be tough being a tank. Well, whatever you do, it’s pointless. Oi, Clay Golem, turn this town into hell!’
At Slay’s command, the clay golem curled up as if to store its strength.
‘The hell’s gonna happen this time?’
GAAAAAAAAAAA!
As the deafening roar ripped through the air, chunks of rock from the golem’s body flew off in all directions.
‘An area attack? Shit!’
A cascade of small stones rained down on the town, destroying the rows of orange roofs and stone walls. In the blink of an eye, screams were heard throughout the city.
Even when you have aggro, area attacks can’t be completely defended against. Jade bitterly repelled the falling stones with his shield. But these weren’t just stones. Suddenly, the rocks swelled, taking on human form and turning into miniature golems that attacked Jade.
‘What?!’
Jade quickly swung his sword, cleaving the mini golem in two. It looked like their defence wasn’t up to the real deal, but if this many of them were allowed to run wild through the town…
‘Hyahahaha, what a disaster, eh? The whole town’s a war zone!!’
‘You son of a—!’
Jade’s face twisted bitterly. If the miniature golems are rioting throughout the town, the adventurers will have no choice but to battle them. Raising forces would become increasingly difficult, and the battle would become one of attrition.
