Chapter: 173
The boss on the 10th floor of Menes Tail is a golem that looks like a rough rock mound.
Being the first staircase boss in the dungeon, it doesn’t have any special abilities. Instead, its base stats are actually quite high.
It has strong attack power. Probably due to its large size, its attack range is also wide. Its defense is so high that unless you perform specific gimmicks, you can’t even chip away at its health.
Back when Soul Academy was booming, this giant was even dubbed the newbie shredder of the Menes Tail dungeon, so taking it down with standard strategies is quite a grind.
The patterns are simple enough and not too difficult, but it takes a lot of time due to the need for gimmick execution.
You’ll need to smash through that ridiculously thick golem skin and hit its core six times to really take it down.
With the dungeon’s nature causing real-time HP depletion, getting hit by it even once will turn the game genre from RPG to survival horror!
But that’s all ancient history for when we stumbled into the 10th floor without a clue.
If you know the trick to tackling the golem, the story changes. Naturally, as a veteran of Soul Academy, I know how to handle it.
“Alsetin, please take care of this.”
“Information dealer. I hope you’re not a loser who can’t even manage this much.”
“Don’t worry, I won’t screw up on something like this.”
Once I wrapped up the briefing, I handed Alsetin a specifically enchanted arrow and opened the boss room door.
From the outside, it just looks like a plain old cave.
Lava streams flow in various places on the floor,
and the ceiling is littered with quartz that could easily skewer us.
The heat in there is so intense that it feels like it’s throttling our breath.
Now, one key point to note about this dungeon is that the boss doesn’t just pop up fully formed from the start.
As soon as all three of us step inside, the boss room door slams shut, and a magic circle appears in the middle of the cave, with a magic stone rising above it.
That magic stone is the core of the golem, the boss of the 10th floor.
Right, the 10th floor boss doesn’t show up fully formed from the get-go.
It merges together right after the players enter the dungeon!
And surprisingly enough, that golem core doesn’t have any hitbox.
What does that mean? It means we can attack while it’s merging!
“Alsetin!”
“Information dealer!”
“Got it!”
Even before I could shout, Alsetin was already pulling back his bowstring.
Sure, compared to a sword, he might be weak, but he’s still leagues stronger than I am now.
There’s no way his shot would miss the target.
The enchanted arrow hit the golem’s core perfectly.
From the fact that NPCs in Menes Tail can gather this intel, it must have been intended by the developers that we could attack at this moment.
Given that the golem is a bit tricky for a 10th floor boss, they probably made that gimmick for us to exploit.
But little did they know…
The players’ creativity always outpaces the developers!
Soon after the arrow struck, an ice flower bloomed at the tip of the shaft.
That magic enchanted on the arrow was none other than the spreading snow bloom.
An ice-type damage-over-time spell that gradually spreads and deals damage.
Once the enemy is frozen over, it gives a big bonus damage too.
To put it bluntly, that magic is trash.
Because of the bonus damage, the dot damage is almost negligible, and if the target has even a bit of ice resistance, that flower spreads slower than molasses, making it impossible to get that bonus damage in.
It’s practically an ability meant for a gag or for veterans with restrictive play styles.
But against this golem, things are different.
This golem’s core has zero ice resistance at all.
Also, because of its small surface area, it takes hardly any time for the spread to complete.
And the most crucial fact? The health of this golem’s core is ridiculously low.
Smashing the rocks around the core is tough, sure, but hitting that core itself just needs a few successful strikes to break it.
In appearance, it seems durable, but once those ice blooms completely spread over its core, it’ll be toast.
So, in effect, this golem has a life expectancy of a ticking time bomb before it can even be fully formed.
Now, for us three, there’s just one task left.
We wait until that golem, unaware of its impending doom, collapses.
In-game, this usually takes about a minute, but what about now that it’s in real life?
It’s probably gonna take longer than that!
A moment after the arrow hit the core, gigantic boulders that had been floating around the cave began to rise into the air.
Then they started to congregate around the core, ultimately creating the form of the golem.
Whoa, that’s impressive. I thought it looked cool in the game cutscenes, but seeing it in real life is like a robot combining right before my eyes!
Watching the golem strut its stuff by stomping its massive legs on the ground, I couldn’t help but chuckle.
It’s certainly amazing, but thinking about how it’s about to keels over just makes it look so pathetic.
“Hello there, empty tin can! ♡ Are you posing like that because you think it looks cool? ♡ Haha, it’s hilarious! ♡ You look like trash that wouldn’t even be taken to the dump! ♡”
As I provoked it, the golem’s gaze shifted toward me.
But neither the sword nor Alsetin moved an inch, which was part of our pre-dungeon agreement.
I told them to let me handle the time-wasting against this guy.
Why make my life harder?
I just wanted to test how far my shield could hold up.
Most of the opponents I’ve faced so far fell into one of two categories:
The kind you could confidently block anything from, or the kind that could smash my shield to smithereens.
Either way, they’ve both been tough nutters for me to judge my actual skill level.
I know my shield is pretty thick now.
But what it can actually withstand? That’s still a mystery.
This is real life, after all.
If only our pathetic god would grant me a status window, that’d be a different story, but alas. Our cheap god is stingy with those kinds of cheat features!
So I step up my shield before this golem that relies on basic dodging for its attacks.
It’s all about figuring out how far my shielding technique can go.
This golem’s one of the few I’ve battled over and over again, so I’ll get a decent read on damage based on what hits.
Alright then. Let’s go see how a hit feels.
Seeing the golem lift its arm, I silently buff myself with various enhancements.
And as the golem’s fist comes hurtling down toward me, I raised my shield.
Its attack is certainly threatening, but it’s just as slow.
Dodging is easy, and parrying is even simpler.
I enveloped myself in divine protection while taking the hit.
Boom!
The moment its fist connected, I knew for sure.
I succeeded in parrying!
The feeling of impact lessened the moment its blow landed on the shield, confirming my parry.
“Ugh!”
Even though I managed to parry, taking on that golem’s blow was still tough as nails.
Clenching my teeth, I persevered and successfully deflected its fist, biting my lip.
[Are you alright?]
‘No problems here.’
I have zero issues handling this golem.
I was confident I could parry every single one of its attacks.
As long as I succeed in parrying, I can manage the incoming blows somehow.
Put differently, it means the moment I fail to parry, I’m set to fly!
So this is my level at the moment, huh?
It’s true that this golem is designed to dodge and attack as a standard mechanic.
This gives it an abnormal attack power for a boss at this level.
Even by game standards, a character just finishing their first semester in grade one shouldn’t be able to block this thing’s attacks.
But now? I have to descend deeper into Menes Tail dungeon!
I can’t afford to stay satisfied here!
Having endured another heavy strike from the golem, I took a deep breath and steadied my stance.
Honestly, I don’t need to bear this much burden.
If I ride the bus with Alsetin and the sword, I’m all set.
With those two’s strength, most issues should sort themselves out.
But this is reality. Anything could go sideways.
And to avoid the worst-case scenario, I’d need to be able to hold my own.
Talk about a hassle!
While biting down on the reality that I’m weaker than I thought, Grandpa finally chimed in.
[Young lady.]
‘What is it, Grandpa! I’m busy right now!’
[There’s a technique I held back on sharing because you’re not ready yet.]
‘Out of nowhere?!’
Even as I heard Grandpa’s voice, I didn’t take my eyes off the golem’s movements.
Its foot lifted high. Is it going for a stone-drop pattern from above?
Instead of moving my shield, I conjured a divine wall right above my head.
Sure, it’s not as strong as my shield, but it should be enough to block falling stones.
So I could observe the golem’s next pattern without taking damage.
[Think about it. If you can imbue the mace with divinity, you should be able to do the same with the shield. It means you can use divine shield techniques for defense.]
‘Why are you telling me this only now?!’
[I was waiting for you to get familiar with using divinity.]
I’m still not that great at divine martial arts.
When I use it while swinging the mace, I’m forced to lose half the divinity, that’s my reality.
Even if I were to employ divine martial arts on the shield, I’d guess the result would be similar.
It would still have an effect, but the efficiency would be terrible.
[It’s okay for a finishing blow. If you can take down the enemy in one strike, you don’t have to worry about what comes after. But what’s the point in pouring everything into defense, only to expose yourself to the next attack?]
So it seemed that Grandpa chose not to reveal this until I reached a certain level.
[But seeing you face the golem’s attacks changes my mind. Stronger foes will come. After you manage to block one attack, you’ll have others who can take his life right next to you. So you’d better get used to using it.]
‘How do I do that?’
[The method is the same. You can do it.]
I saw the golem clench its hands.
It raised its fists high, about to slam down.
This was one of its most powerful attacks.
Normally, dodging is the way to go, but…
[Good timing. It’s using its full power, so give it your all in blocking it.]
Alright, let’s do this.
If things go sideways, my brooch will take the hit instead.
I imbued my shield with divinity.
Just last night, I was practicing with Grandpa in training mode using the mace.
This is harder than using the mace, but hey, I can manage.
As the divinity gathered, the surface of my shield flared up with a warm light.
Not long after, the golem’s fists came crashing down.
The force of its intent to squash me was behind that punch.
The moment I saw it, I knew for sure.
I could block that attack.
Grandpa tells me.
The iron wall stands strong.
I make my judgment.
Raising my shield high!
BAM!
‘Grandpa, wouldn’t it have been nice to have known this sooner?’
Through my divinity-imbued shield, I see the golem’s hand behind it.
That fist is so huge, it casts a shadow over me.
The punch aimed to squash me down went for a swing.
“It’s a pathetic tin can! ♡ Weak! ♡ Totally weak! ♡ Every single one of those designs belongs in a trash heap! ♡”
It crashed against my shield, only to abruptly stop, completely nullified!
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