Chapter 134: 134 Golem_1
Just watching that person fly out and crash into the lamp post made Aiden himself feel somewhat pained.
But the other party’s plight wasn’t worthy of sympathy, the cane was still firmly grasped in the other’s hand, Aiden glanced at the end of the other’s cane and, sure enough, he saw a segment of a silver blade.
A cane with a concealed blade is nothing but a hollowed-out cane modified with a spring knife inside; the trigger is placed in the handle. It’s a common method of self-defense among gangsters and local snakes, next to firearms.
The flash of silver light at the end of the cane had alerted all three present that the cane had a blade attached.
Truth be told, even without Rebecca and Veronica’s intervention, Aiden was capable of handling such a surprise attack. Even though he wasn’t as skilled as the former Judge he replaced, the level he inherited still qualified him as an excellent swordsman.
Aiden couldn’t immediately determine whether the visitor was a personal enemy or just an irritable fellow carrying a lethal weapon. Despite taking the hit, the other’s hat remained firmly on his head. Aiden squinted, trying to take a good look at the face under the hat’s brim, when the mysterious man suddenly snapped to his feet again.
Aiden was taken aback; having taken two kicks that could send an adult into the air, one should be dead or, at the very least, have broken ribs, yet the stranger had risen with a jerk—was his body made of iron?
Moreover, having taken a heavy blow, the guy didn’t even let out a grunt.
The man grasped his cane and charged straight at Aiden again; Veronica stepped forward in a flash, unbalancing him with a lightning-fast leg sweep, then grabbed his wrist, twisted it backward, and a sound like something breaking, a crisp snap, could be heard. But the cane remained firmly in his grip.
Veronica was startled. The man’s arm was as hard as solid wood, and his wrist, surely broken by her immense strength, shouldn’t have been able to hold onto the cane under normal circumstances.
The man tried to retaliate with his other hand against Veronica, while Rebecca reached out and took Aiden’s cane: "Borrowing this!"
Aiden paused for a moment, then let go and handed the cane to Rebecca.
Grasping the cane, Rebecca shifted her hand to the end and charged menacingly at the man, swinging the cane hard at his chin.
Aiden’s usual cane was an accessory issued by the Heretical Judgment Bureau for casting dark magic—in other words, a weapon. It’s characteristically heavy, so it can be used like a baton to smash someone’s head in—Rebecca’s swing aimed to fracture his chin.
With a shattering sound, the man’s chin shattered like glass, web-like fractures covering half his face, without a drop of blood spilling.
Underneath the brim of the hat, the man’s face remained expressionless, and he made no sound at all.
"Wax figure?" Aiden noticed the man’s face was made of wax.
Rebecca was the first to react, swinging again with full force, the cane’s end traced an arc, and this time it struck the man’s temple.
The "man"’s head flew off along with the hat glued to it, yet that body was still struggling to break free from Veronica’s hold.
"It’s a puppet driven by dark magic!" Rebecca yelled, "Take it apart!"
Without hesitation, Veronica executed a fierce shoulder throw, slamming the figure to the ground, its arm breaking off at the shoulder and being yanked out of the sleeve by Veronica.
Indeed, as Rebecca had said, it was an arm made of solid wood, with spherical joints, and the gloves along with the cane were both fixed onto the puppet’s hand.
Despite losing its head and right arm, the puppet tried to rise again. Confirming that it was neither human nor even a living thing, Veronica no longer held back, seized the wooden puppet’s other arm, and snapped it across her knee at the joint. Finally, she grabbed the puppet’s legs in a spinning windmill move, slamming it hard into the iron lamp post. A loud snap was heard, and the puppet’s legs also broke.
Veronica, who already possessed the strength of a large beast, violently dismantled the automaton with such force that it stood no chance of fighting back.
The only remains of the puppet continued to twitch on the ground, but it could do no more than roll back and forth.
Veronica turned to Aiden, "Chief, are you alright?"
Rebecca also cast a look of concern his way.
"I’m quite fine," Aiden could only respond in that way.
Was there any danger in watching others fight? Shouldn’t you two be concerned about the participants in the battle instead?
Due to the competence of the two female comrades, Aiden had no chance to intervene from the beginning to the end.
"What exactly is going on?" Veronica shifted her gaze to the scattered remains of the puppet, picked up the wand that was attached to the puppet’s right hand, and examined it, "There’s a strange smell of medicine on this blade."
"Is it poisoned?" Rebecca frowned, "This golem was made by carving runes on a puppet, a self-moving magic construct. It’s a type of black magic that was recorded a long time ago, but..."
"It’s been lost to time," Aiden took over, his knowledge base also contained information about this kind of black magic.
Some lost black magics are occasionally reproduced in this age, but these are typically complex technical endeavors, achievable only by highly specialized researchers like black magicians, and... witches.
"It was targeting me, after all," Aiden sighed involuntarily.
The assassination attempt he had been worrying about came so swiftly.
A golem can only move at its creator’s command, and this one just happened to appear outside the prison, attacking Aiden on sight, which undoubtedly all came from the creator’s instruction.
Fortunately, the road outside the prison was scarcely trafficked on an ordinary day, and now not a soul was in sight, sparing the masses from being swept into this...
But it also meant that the golem’s controller was not nearby.
"Do you have any leads?" Rebecca looked toward Aiden.
"Ah, could this be... the work of the witch that Presia mentioned?" Veronica realized, as she had been present during the conversation between Aiden and Presia.
"You guys help by checking here first; I’ll go call some people to secure the scene," Aiden quickly regained his composure, "We also need to notify the department to send someone over for an investigation."
Incidents related to black magic must be reported to the Heretics’ Judgement Bureau.
Upon hearing this, Rebecca could only suppress the dinner plans she had previously made for today — with such an incident occurring, the dinner she had arranged would unquestionably have to be canceled.
"Alright," she agreed, while quietly clenching her fist.
