Chapter: 173
The boss on the 10th floor of Menestel is a rough-looking golem made of stacked dungeon rocks.
As the first staircase boss encountered in the dungeon, it doesn’t have any special abilities. Instead, its basic specs are simply high.
Its attack power is strong. Maybe because of its size, the attack range is also wide. With remarkably high defense, you can’t even scratch its health unless you perform a specific gimmick.
Back when the Soul Academy was all the rage, this creature was known as the Newbie Cutter of the Menestel dungeon, so tackling it head-on can be quite the ordeal.
The pattern itself is simple and not difficult, but it takes a long time due to the gimmick execution.
You need to smash through its ridiculously thick skin and hit its core about six times.
In a situation where health is being drained in real-time due to the characteristics of the Menestel dungeon, if you accidentally take a hit from it? At that moment, the game genre flips from RPG to survival game.
But all of this is before I stepped into the 10th floor without a clue.
Knowing the tricks to deal with the golem changes everything. Naturally, as a veteran user of the Soul Academy, I know how to handle it.
“Alsatine, nice to meet you.”
“Information Peddler, I hope you’re not a sloppy one.”
“Don’t worry. I won’t make any mistakes like that.”
After wrapping up the briefing, I handed a specially enchanted arrow to Alsatine and opened the door to the boss room.
Inside, it looked like an ordinary cave on the surface.
Lava streams flowed all over the floor, and countless quartz crystals loomed above, ready to skewer us.
Not to mention that the temperature inside was stifling enough to take your breath away.
What you need to pay attention to is one thing.
The 10th floor boss does not appear in its complete form from the start.
As soon as the three of us stepped inside, the door to the boss room slammed shut, and a magic circle appeared in the center of the cave, rising an energy crystal above it.
That crystal is the core of the 10th floor boss—the golem.
Right, the boss does not appear fully formed from the start.
It combines itself dramatically after the user enters the dungeon!
And surprisingly, that golem’s core does not have hit detection.
What does that mean? It means you can attack during the fusion!
“Alsatine!”
“Information Peddler!”
“Got it!”
Before I finished shouting, Alsatine was already pulling the bowstring.
Although he’s weaker than my sword, Alsatine is still remarkably strong compared to me now.
There’s no way his fired arrow will miss.
The enchanted arrow struck the golem’s core perfectly.
Considering that you can acquire this information from various NPCs in Menestel, attacking at this time must have been intended by the developers.
Given that the golem is of high difficulty for a 10th floor boss, they likely devised this trick.
However, they didn’t know.
The creativity of the players often surpasses the developers.
Not long after the arrow struck, ice flowers bloomed at the arrow’s tip.
The magic enchanted on that arrow is Infecting Snowflower.
It’s an ice-type dot damage technique, spreading as it hits and inflicting damage.
When the entire enemy is frozen, there’s a bonus that deals massive damage too.
Honestly, that magic is trash.
The bonus damage is strong, but the dot damage is tiny, and if there’s even a slight ice resistance, the speed of infection is annoyingly slow, making it impossible to inflict bonus damage.
You could say it’s effectively a gimmick or a tool for veterans.
But when dealing with that golem, the story is different.
The core of this golem has no ice resistance whatsoever.
Moreover, since it has a small surface area, the infection completes quickly.
And the most critical point? The fact that the golem’s core has remarkably low health.
Originally, breaking the rocks surrounding the core is tough, but the core itself can be shattered with just a few successful hits.
The golem’s core, which looks tough, becomes vulnerable the moment the snowflower infects it.
The golem’s life span ends before it even fully forms.
Now, there’s only one thing left for the three of us.
We just have to wait for the golem, unknowingly on borrowed time, to fall.
In the game, it would have taken about a minute, but what about now that it’s become reality?
It’s probably normal for it to take longer than in the game.
Not long after the arrow struck the golem’s core, enormous boulders scattered around the cave began to rise into the void.
Then they clustered around the core, eventually creating the figure of the golem.
Wow, it’s grand. I thought it looked cool in the game cutscene, but seeing it in person feels like a robot combining—it’s no joke.
Before I knew it, it had finished assembling, proudly stomping the ground with its gigantic legs, radiating awe as I couldn’t help but chuckle.
It’s definitely impressive, but thinking of it as doing bravado while dying just makes it look so sloppy.
“Hello ♡ Empty Tin Can? ♡ Are you posing thinking it looks cool like that? ♡ Cough ♡ Hilarious ♡ You’re such a shoddy trash that even the dumpster wouldn’t take you! ♡”
As taunts fly towards it, the golem’s gaze shifts toward me, yet neither the sword nor Alsatine moves.
This was all agreed upon before entering the dungeon.
I told them to leave the time-wasting against this thing entirely to me.
Why willingly take on hardship?
Because I want to see how far my shield can hold up.
So far, the foes I faced have been either:
1. Someone I’m confident I can block any attack from.
2. Or someone who could easily shatter my shield.
Either way, they were tough to evaluate my objective skills.
I know my shield is quite solid now.
But I don’t know exactly what attacks it can hold up against.
This is reality, after all.
If the sloppy God had given me a status window, it would be a different story, but sadly our sloppy God is a tightwad who wouldn’t hand out such cheat functions.
So, I’m thrusting my shield right in front of the golem, a method to figure out how far my shield techniques have come.
This golem is one I’ve fought until boredom, so I can roughly estimate its damage from how it hits.
Alright, let’s go get hit once.
Watching the golem raise its arm, I mentally activate several buffs.
Then, I raised my shield, focusing on the golem’s punch coming toward me.
That attack is certainly threatening, but it’s also slow.
Dodging it is easy, and parrying will be a piece of cake.
Spreading the divine energy all over my body, I withstood the attack.
BAM!
As the punch made contact, I could feel it.
I succeeded in parrying.
The moment the attack hit the shield, I could clearly sense the shock lessen—it was definitely the feeling of a successful parry.
“Ugh!”
But despite the successful parry, taking the golem’s hit was pretty tough.
I grit my teeth, and at last, managed to deflect its punch, biting my lip.
[Are you okay?]
‘No problems here.’
I have absolutely no issues dealing with that golem.
I had confidence in parrying all its attacks.
Once I succeed in a parry, I can handle any follow-up attacks.
To put it another way, failing to parry means I’m getting knocked away.
What’s my level now?
It’s a fact that this golem is fundamentally designed to miss all attacks and attack in return.
So it possesses abnormal power not suitable for a boss at this level.
Even in the context of the game, for a character barely finishing their first semester, blocking that golem’s attack is quite the feat.
But now, I need to head further down in the Menestel dungeon.
Being satisfied with just this won’t cut it!
Once more, I withstood the golem’s descending punch, took a deep breath, and re-positioned myself.
Honestly, there’s no need to grip my teeth this hard.
I could just let Alsatine and the sword handle it.
With their strength, most issues would be taken care of.
But this is reality. Who knows what variables might arise?
In that scenario, being able to handle even one more working individual would be beneficial.
What a predicament.
As I gritted my teeth in realization of my weakness, Grandpa began to speak up.
[Young Lady.]
‘What is it, Grandpa?! I’m busy right now!’
[I didn't want to tell you because I thought you might still be too early, but...]
‘All of a sudden?!’
Even while hearing what Grandpa was saying, I didn’t take my eyes off the golem’s movements.
It lifted its foot. A pattern where it would drop the sharp stones from the ceiling.
Instead of moving my shield, I created a divine wall above my head.
Its strength is lower than my shield, but it’s sufficient to block falling stones.
Without taking any damage, I could observe the golem’s next pattern.
[Think about it. If you can channel divine power into a mace, you can surely do it in a shield. It means you can utilize the Divine Sword Technique in defense.]
‘Why are you telling me this now?!’
[I was waiting for you to get used to handling divine power.]
I still haven’t mastered the proficiency of the Divine Sword Technique.
Using it to swing a mace means I have to forfeit half of the divine energy in reality.
If using the Divine Sword Technique in my shield is similar, the effect might not be great, but it would still yield some results.
[Finishing attacks are fine. If you can take an enemy down in one blow, you don’t have to worry about what comes next. But putting all your efforts into defense does not make sense. You’ll just be exposed to the next attack.]
So, it seemed Grandpa intended to withhold this information until I reached a certain level.
[However, after seeing that golem’s attack, I changed my mind. More powerful foes will show up in the future. There will be those who can take its breath away once you block its attack. It’s better to get used to using it now.]
‘How do I do that?’
[The method is the same. You can do it.]
I saw the golem clenching its hands.
It raised both hands high and slammed them down.
The most powerful attack among the golem’s arsenal.
It would normally be wise to dodge.
[Good timing. The opponent's giving its all, so you should too.]
Let’s give it a shot.
If it really gets dangerous, my brooch might take the hit instead.
I filled my shield’s surface with divine energy.
Just the night before, I was practicing with Grandpa and the mace in Practice Mode.
While it’s tougher than a mace enchanted with divine energy, I can manage this much.
As the divine energy coalesced, a warm light began to rise from the surface of my shield.
Not long after, the golem swung its fist down.
An attack filled with intent to smash me.
The moment I saw that, I was sure.
I could block that attack.
Grandpa speaks up.
The iron wall stands firm.
I determine.
Raising my shield high!
BOOM!
‘Grandpa, how great would it have been if you had told me this beforehand?’
Through the shield filled with divine energy, I could see the golem’s hand.
Its massive size casts a shadow over me.
That fist, aimed to crush me…
“Shoddy Tin Can ♡ Weak ♡ So pathetic ♡ Trashy mobs always look like this ♡”
So hopelessly halted by my shield, it couldn’t go any further.
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