Chapter 37: The Tin Knight and The Mysterious Underground Labyrinth (6)
While the Tin Knight was simply delighted that a new boss had appeared, in fact, this was an optional battle that could have been avoided if they had simply tried to avoid it.
After all, the orders received by the Wood Golem... the guardian of this underground labyrinth, were as follows:
「Maintain the seal so that the sinner cannot awaken, and continuously drain her power.」
「If a person who has gone through the proper procedures reaches where you are, help them to subjugate the monster.」
「But if someone who hasn’t followed the procedures forcibly reaches there, defeat them. Under no circumstances should they come into contact with the sinner.」
If the Tin Knight’s party hadn’t attempted to force their way through using the cheat key “Key of Opium”, the Wood Golem and its subordinates would have become strong allies rather than obstacles blocking their way.
But at the same time, this was also a meaningless assumption.
Given the Tin Knight’s and Dorothea’s personalities, they were the type of people who would rather breakthrough using unorthodox methods and fight one more time than go to the Adventurers Guild to find out the “proper method” of conquering this labyrinth just to avoid one battle. Moreover, one of them wasn’t even human, neither in body nor in mind.
If we had to pick someone, Adelaide’s personality would have suited that orthodox route, but unfortunately, she had little say in matters such as these.
Therefore, the Wood Golem rampaged without hesitation.
To fulfill the last order left by the Golem’s master.
To crush that small doll that dared to face it alone.
Boom! Boom! Bang!
The Golem took large strides with both feet, pressing the Tin Knight.
Given the difference in size where the Tin Knight’s head only reached the Golem’s navel, a single well-placed stomp from the Golem would be enough to end the fight.
The Golem intended to thoroughly trample its opponent, leaving no chance for him to rise again.
Right foot.
The Tin Knight dodged by charging to the left.
Left foot.
The Tin Knight dodged by charging to the right.
Full-body crushing attack.
The Tin Knight rolled in the opposite direction of where the Golem fell to avoid it.
Slash!
The Tin Knight’s blade cut off part of the Golem’s body, but the Golem remained unfazed.
The Golem felt no pain, and the wound immediately regenerated as red sap-like blood filled it.
Though the Tin Knight evaded skillfully, that too would soon reach its limit. The Golem moved on to its next technique.
Boom! Rumble!
The Golem struck the ground hard with its huge right arm, then swung it sideways with all its might while half-buried.
The ground was plowed up, and countless fragments flew in every direction.
Even a graze from the arm would be fatal. It was an attack that would inevitably cause damage from the fragments even if one somehow managed to avoid the arm.
The Tin Knight’s two feet moved brilliantly.
Almost impossibly, he retreated at virtually the same speed as its forward charge, barely escaping the attack range, and in the short gap before the Golem’s right arm reached the opposite side, the Tin Knight seized the narrow opening to insert a slash.
Slash!
The Tin Knight’s blade half-cut the Golem’s right forearm, nearly severing it. However, the vines surrounding the Golem’s body firmly held the wound area like a bandage, reinforcing the injury.
The Golem felt some displeasure but soon treated it as nothing significant.
The spec difference between the Golem and that tiny knight was still overwhelming. The Golem moved on to its next technique.
Creak, creeeak.
With a creaking noise, the Golem’s body curled up like a ball, and then began to spin violently.
It intended to overwhelm its opponent, who was avoiding attacks with frivolous movements, with pure speed and crush him.
This cavern, created for the Golem, the guardian of the labyrinth, was spacious enough to accommodate such attacks with room to spare.
The Golem charged at full speed.
The Tin Knight raised his shield forward.
Compared to the Golem’s size, it seemed infinitely tiny—almost laughable.
Mocking this futile struggle, the Golem hurled itself toward the Tin Knight.
Unable to withstand the impact, the Tin Knight was pushed back greatly.
But the next moment, he charged forward again and swung his sword at the Golem.
Slash!
Some part of its body was cut off again, but the Golem ignored it and charged once more.
The Tin Knight, who received that attack with his shield, was pushed back greatly again.
And immediately after, as if nothing had happened, he charged again and cut the Golem.
The Golem tried to stop its charge and raise its body due to the repeated counters, but the Tin Knight was already occupying its back and swinging his sword.
Despite being hurled away multiple times, the Tin Knight bore no wounds on his body.
Slash.
This 𝓬ontent is taken from freeweɓnovel.cѳm.
Slash.
Slash slash slash!
The Tin Knight’s blade tore into the Golem.
He dodged with precision and cut. He blocked with his shield and cut. He continuously exploited the Golem’s blind spots and cut.
Only then did the Golem realize its own misconception.
Things like size or spec difference—such things had no meaning at all.
Just as the Golem thought of the doll as a weakling it could crush at any time, that doll had regarded the Golem as nothing more than a large, moving target that needed to be cut many times.
The Golem... or more precisely, the fairy planted as the “core” responsible for the Golem’s cognitive abilities, recalled the emotion of fear for the first time in centuries.
The regenerative power that seemed infinite faltered, unable to keep up with unrelenting demand, and the once sturdy body was reduced into an unsightly appearance like rags.
The fairy’s gaze darted around frantically.
It was to request aid from its kin.
While the fairy was fighting the doll, its kin should have been dealing with the two humans.
If they could quickly take care of those two weak humans and cooperate to defeat this monster—
[Kyaaaah!]
A shrill scream rang out.
It was the voice of its kin.
The cheerful laughter of its companions had turned into agonized cries.
Every time the witch scattered something like powder, the air became increasingly murky, and the natural mana was polluted with curses.
The fairies retaliated with wind blades or blew out powder that caused illusions, but all of it was sucked toward the staff held by the black-haired human.
The magic used by the black-clothed human lacked the power to fatally wound the fairies, but it was enough to slow their movements.
The moment the movement of the fairies faltered, they were mercilessly slaughtered by the golden-haired human.
The golden-haired human flinched and trembled, showing an expression of guilt every time the fairies screamed, but almost independent of her feelings, her blade showed an unwavering precision.
She was like a creature whose body moved before her thoughts.
The fairy controlling the Golem felt anxious.
The enemy was strong, and its kin were not helpful.
The fairy decided to use its trump card.
The thorny vines scattered on the ground began to converge, connecting to the Golem’s body.
Originally, it was a device to continuously drain the power of the “sinner” to prevent her from waking up while also serving as the labyrinth’s power source, but by using the authority of the labyrinth’s guardian, it could also be used to strengthen itself.
The Golem’s body turned bright red.
The Golem charged towards the Tin Knight.
Its movement was nearly 3 times faster than before.
Slash!
And the Tin Knight, using the momentum of that charge, split the Golem’s head clean in two.
The fairy in the same position was also split in half.
Until the moment of its death, the fairy failed to realize the reason for its defeat.
[The ‘Tin Knight’ points out that just increasing speed with the same pattern is meaningless!]
The fairy couldn’t hear the Tin Knight’s words, the “voice” conveying his will.
The guardian’s end was dismally anti-climatic compared to its centuries of wait.
***“So this is what it feels like to cut a fairy. It feels like a mix between an animal and an insect, which is really unpleasant.”
After the battle.
Adelaide grumbled with a tearful expression.
Dorothea inwardly muttered.
For someone saying that, you cut them pretty well.
Well, it might be the result of the Tin Knight bringing rabbits, giant insects, and various other things for her to cut every day.
“The fairies in the books I read were said to have bodies made of water or emit a soft light, making them very beautiful and mysterious.”
To Adelaide, who was disappointed as if her dream had been shattered, Dorothea bluntly said, “There are fairies like that too.”
Adelaide’s face brightened up.
“Really?”
“Fairies tend to change their ecology depending on their habitat. These ones probably became like this adapting to this environment. If it’s a fairy living in a lake filled with pure mana or a place where spirits dwell, they might look as you described.”
Even so, their mischievous and cruel nature is mostly similar.
Dorothea swallowed her last words.
She had no intention of pampering Adelaide, but she also didn’t have a hobby of deliberately crushing others’ dreams.
Clink. Clink.
The Tin Knight approached the two conversing women.
“Ah, great work, Sir Knight! You’re really amazing. I heard that golems are usually impossible for ordinary soldiers to handle and that even knights who can wield sword energy need to cooperate in numbers to defeat them. Yet you overwhelmed it alone without a single scratch.”
[The ‘Tin Knight’ claims it was easier to handle than the monkeys!]
[The ‘Tin Knight’ admires that the two of you fought well too!]
Adelaide bowed her head as if embarrassed.
While thinking she was an easy girl to please, Dorothea’s gaze was directed towards the Tin Knight.
His combat abilities are certainly incredible.
Even Dorothea, who wasn’t deeply versed in martial arts, couldn’t help but admire the skill of effortlessly cutting down an opponent much larger than oneself, and deflecting impacts without injury despite being blown away multiple times by physical charges.
However, there was one issue.
His mana is almost completely depleted.
The Tin Knight’s mana, which had been fully charged just before the battle began, had somehow evaporated by nearly 90%.
Of course, it wasn’t incomprehensible.
To cut through a golem with such tremendous strength and size, the output of the sword energy must have been raised accordingly.
In fact, as Adelaide said, if the price for single-handedly defeating a golem that would normally require several knights to handle was just mana depletion, it was actually quite cheap.
But Dorothea’s expression didn’t relax.
This time, they somehow managed to defeat the opponent before all the mana ran out, but there was no guarantee it would always be like that in the future.
There will be other competitors besides Franka. In the worst case, the Four Great Cardinal Witches might take action directly... I need to solve this capacity problem. There should be doll workshops in the Empire, I’ll have to find a way to repair or upgrade him.
Dorothea had an abundance of mana.
If remote supply became possible instead of manually supplying like now, the Tin Knight’s combat potential would greatly increase.
Retrieve the eight treasures, complete the king’s errand, and safely graduate under Teacher’s tutelage.
After adding, “Solve the Tin Knight’s mana problem,” under the top item on her mental goal list, Dorothea opened her mouth, “Then, let’s go forward. We’ll see what these guys were so desperately hiding.”
The Tin Knight and Adelaide nodded in agreement.
After thoroughly regrouping in preparation for any possible battles, the party pressed onward.
At last, they reached the innermost part.
The sight that unfolded there made the party widen their eyes for a moment.
A tall pillar.
Thorny vines grew, twisting around the pillar.
And, entwined by those thorny vines and hanging on the pillar was one woman.
Blood was continuously flowing from her skin pierced by the thorns, and the vines were feeding on that blood, intensifying their reddish hue.
The party recalled the words written on the stone tablet.
“Judge her. Punish her. Hang her upon the gallows as an example. Do so swiftly, as miserably as possible, condemn their sin.”
It wasn’t just a metaphor.
The sinner was trapped here, subjected to endless punishment.
For centuries, no less.
“How pitiful...” Adelaide exclaimed, covering her mouth with both hands.
Her eyes glistened with unshed tears.
Dorothea also frowned.
However, while Adelaide’s expression was distorted with pure sympathy, Dorothea felt confusion and bewilderment.
Certainly, this scene was horrific.
But thinking about it rationally, it raised several oddities.
Could a person survive in a place that had been sealed for hundreds of years?
Could a person shed enough blood to dye those vines red and still live?
A living person couldn’t possibly ensure such circumstances.
But Dorothea also realized that the being before her eyes was no mere corpse.
A necromancer, of all people, couldn’t fail to distinguish whether a soul had left the body or not.
The woman was not a living being.
But the woman unquestionably housed a soul.
Dorothea had learned about such beings from her teacher long ago.
“Vampire.”
As if responding to Dorothea’s words.
The woman’s eyes snapped open.