Chapter 143 – Bear-san Dives Into The Mine, Part 4
Senya-san placed the whole Iron Golem inside her item bag.
Watching their fight had made me realize that I really wanted a mithril weapon.
I didn’t know if I would be able to use it well, but I still wanted it for situations when I couldn’t use magic or the monstrous strength of my Bear Suit.
The golem would stop if I just destroyed the magic stone in its chest, but that would also render it unusable, so nobody would buy it. Well, I didn’t really care about the magic stone, so destroying it was fine with me.
If I had mithril, I could just pierce the stone and be done with it, or if I had some sort of vibration attack, I might be able to destroy only the magic stone within and leave the body intact. I had seen a lot of such attacks in manga, where they had done no harm to the exterior but had destroyed what was inside. Such unrealistic things could only be found in fantasy worlds.
Hmm, maybe I shouldn’t be saying this while being in one myself...
Anyway, I might be able to make vibrations with magic and send them inside the golem’s body.
Well, I didn’t think that it was possible right now, so I decided to put it on hold.
After the Iron Golem’s body was safely in Senya-san’s item bag, we decided to take a short break to check on how everyone was doing, since we would encounter more Iron Golems from now on.
「So, Jade, how deep are we going today?」
Toya-san asked while refreshing himself with a drink.
「Like we usually do, we will go as far as we can without doing the impossible. Maybe those five Iron Golems won’t be around this time.」
Sadly, I knew that those five were present because of my detection magic.
I had noticed five more reactions, though. It was five people, most likely Idiot Rangers and they were near our tunnel. If we continued down this tunnel, would we cross paths?
The map was still dark, so I didn’t really know where exactly would we meet.
Still, Idiot Rangers were closer to the five Iron Golems than we were, so if we both kept our paces, they would get to the golems before us.
Well, that meant if all went well, the world might get to see its lucky day.
Just as I decided to not let the others know about this, Jade-san spoke to me.
「So, Yuna, after seeing us fight, do you think you could defeat an Iron Golem on your own?」
「Hmm, it might be complicated.」
「Complicated?」
「As Mel-san said, magic isn’t usable inside caves, so that makes it hard. Also, if I use brute force here and miss, the mine might collapse as a result. I could defeat it if we were fighting out in the open, I think.」
「I see.」
Jade-san seemed a bit disappointed.
Well, if they really wanted to get past those five Iron Golems, I could drop the golems in a pit, but we wouldn’t obtain their materials that way.
「If only I had a mithril sword...」
Toya-san joked around.
「You should stop with this joke. It’s not funny.」
「Yeah, it’s lame, Toya.」
「I’m not saying it as a joke!」
「Toya, you can say that only after you polish your skills a bit more, okay?」
「Tch!」
His final reaction made them all laugh.
We finished our break and continued moving forward. It didn’t take long for us to arrive at the passage where I had detected Idiot Rangers before.
So, this was where the tunnels linked together. Would it be okay if I went back taking their path? I would be able to complete the map that way.
Any time an Iron Golem appeared, Toya-san and I would block it, while Mel-san covered us with magic.
Senya-san and Jade-san would then use the opening we made to hack it down.
Using this tactic, we had defeated three more Iron Golems.
「Just a bit farther.」
We were about to arrive at the place where the five Iron Golems were, but Idiot Rangers, who were still ahead of us, should have already encountered them.
I decided to check on them with detection magic.
Huh?
The signal of the five Iron Golems had disappeared.
The last time I had checked, they had still been there, but now they were gone.
Did Idiot Rangers defeat them? I couldn’t detect them either, though.
Were they not on our floor?
Wait, the five Iron Golems might have also went farther down. I finally understood why I couldn’t have detected Idiot Rangers or the first golem before.
Jade-san slowly crept forward and looked at the crevice where the five golems were supposed to be.
「They aren’t here.」
「Yeah.」
「There are traces of a fight, though.」
There were indeed traces of magic and something rampaging about all over the place.
When we were sure that the Iron Golems weren’t here anymore, we entered the wide crevice.
「Babord’s party maybe?」
Babord?
Ah! It was Idiot Red’s name.
He would always be Idiot Red to me, though.
「I can’t think of any other reason for this.」
「So, they managed to defeat those five Iron Golems, huh.」
「Their personalities are the worst, but they do have skill.」
So, it seemed that Idiot Rangers had defeated the five Iron Golems.
The lucky day hadn’t come, huh.
Ugh, how disappointing.
「Jade, what will we do?」
Mel-san asked while keeping her eye on surroundings.
「Babord opened a path for us, so we should keep going. Getting even a little bit more information would be great, after all.」
「We just have to make sure Babord doesn’t find out.」
Senya-san agreed with Jade-san.
「I don’t like troublesome things, but as adventurers, our only choice is to keep going.」
「If they complain about it, we’ll just have to go back, right?」
What? There wasn’t a single mention of them fighting together.
Well, I also didn’t want to fight together with Idiot Rangers.
We continued on our way, and as I had expected, we descended a slope.
The map changed, and Idiot Rangers appeared again. There was another signal next to them; signal of a Mithril Golem.
We already had difficulties dealing with Iron Golems, so wasn’t it impossible to take down a Mithril Golem?
When we reached the end of the slope, we began to hear sounds of a fight.
「Fuck, it’s so hard!」
「Magic isn’t working!」
「Engai, do something!」
「That’s impossible!」
Idiot Rangers were fighting in a large tunnel.
Idiot Red was hacking at the Mithril Golem with his sword, but it was bouncing off.
Idiot Blue was stabbing it with his spear, but it was bouncing off.
Idiot Green was attacking it with a giant hammer, but it was bouncing off.
Idiot Black was launching earth magic at it, but it was bouncing off.
Idiot White was using wind magic, but it was also bouncing off.
Hmm... Yeah, it was completely impossible.
Even though the crevice was quite large, fighting underground was still disadvantageous.
How could a Mithril Golem, with its absolute defense, even be defeated?
It wasn’t like Idiot Ranger’s level was low; compared to Deborane, who was rank D, they seemed to have great movements and cooperated well as a party, but they still couldn’t damage it.
Even though they knew that, Idiot Rangers continued to fight it, and after a while, Idiot Red finally noticed us.
「What did you guys came here for!?」
「We just came to watch. We also thought that if you were done in, we would defeat it in your place, you see.」
「Don’t joke with me! There is no way that my great self would be done in! You bastards won’t get a turn. Just go back and sleep! If you stay here to watch the fight for any longer, I will have you pay the watcher’s fee!」
He said while pointing his sword at us.
「Not to mention that you came here with your pet!」
The pet he was talking about was me, right?
Should I summon Swaying Bear and attack him from behind?
Swaying Bear could be more terrifying than a real bear, you know?
「Okay, we will go back. If you die, I will tell the guild about this, so don’t worry.」
「We won’t die!」
Idiot Red turned back around and rushed at the Mithril Golem.
Personally, I would have liked to watch the fight for a bit longer, but it seemed like Idiot Red would be a pain if we did so, so we decided to leave.
A Mithril Golem, huh?
I wanted its materials. Was it the only one, though?
I believed it was impossible for them to defeat it, but it would still be bad if Idiot Rangers got the kill.
I would be able to make a dozen swords if I managed to claim the whole golem.
「They can’t defeat it.」
「Yep, impossible.」
「What was it, though?」
「Well, it’s clearly harder than an Iron Golem.」
「I don’t want to acknowledge that there is something harder than an Iron Golem.」
「Even Babord’s mithril sword didn’t seem to cut it.」
「Is it possible that he isn’t skilled enough?」
「His personality is the worst, but he is skilled enough to wield a mithril sword.」
「Babord couldn’t cut it even though he is strong.」
「Wouldn’t it have been better if we helped him then?」
「He wouldn’t accept our help, and he doesn’t want to be saved.」
「Exactly. If he had asked for help, we would have helped him, but since he didn’t ask, we didn’t help. It’s the unspoken adventurers’ rule.」
「Yeah, splitting materials and request fees becomes really troublesome when helping someone, after all. That’s not the case when you save someone, whose life is in danger, of course.」
「If you saved Babord, he would only complain about it after.」
I didn’t completely understand what they were talking about, but still somewhat got what they meant.
Most adventurers weren’t heroes, and they wouldn’t save someone for free. For instance, they hadn’t accepted this request because people were troubled for not being able to mine anymore, but because it was a paying job. It was normal to do things for money rather than for free.
That was why they didn’t want to help Idiot Rangers, who hadn’t asked for help either.
They might have had a chance to defeat it if they had worked together, but they had thrown that opportunity away.
The same thing had happened in the game as well. The less people in the party, the more loot for each member.
So, if they said that there was no helping it, they were probably right.
I also wanted to monopolize the Mithril Golem.
In the end, we decided to leave and go back to the inn for the day, and since I wanted to complete the map, I asked Jade-san’s party if we could take Idiot Rangers’ path on our way back, and they agreed.
When we came back to the inn, we first got something to eat.
「So, Jade, what will we do?」
「Do about what?」
「This golem. It didn’t seem like Babord’s party could defeat it at all.」
「I can’t cut it, either.」
「Even if I had a mithril sword, it would still be impossible.」
We all ignored Toya-san’s remark.
「If Babord’s party somehow manages to defeat it, the request will be completed, but if defeating it seems impossible, we should contact the guild.」
「There is no helping it, huh.」
「It’s frustrating, but yeah.」
A way to defeat the Mithril Golem, huh?
I could defeat it by digging a pit under it and using brute force, but that wouldn’t work in the mine, since the tunnels might collapse in the process.
Underground, I couldn’t defeat it even with my Bear Cheat.
Burying the last boss wouldn’t work since it wouldn’t die of suffocation, and as long as it wasn’t defeated, other golems wouldn’t stop spawning.
Well, we weren’t even sure if killing it would stop the other golems from spawning.
If I defeated the Mithril Golem, but the golems kept popping up, would the witch Eleanora even return Princess Fina to me?
As I was enjoying my tea after a day’s work, the inn entrance suddenly became noisy.
「Fuck, as if we could defeat something like that!」
「Magic didn’t work at all!」
「It’s way too hard!」
「I don’t have a smudge of magical power left.」
「I’m hungry, so let’s just eat!」
Idiot Rangers entered the inn.
They survived, it seemed.
「Babord, you came back alive!」
Jade-san thoughts were similar to mine.
「As if I would die!」
「And, did you defeat it?」
Just by hearing their rant and seeing the looks on their faces, he should have known the answer, but Jade-san asked anyway.
「Because you bastards came, I lost my concentration, so I decided to let it live this time.」
Which one let the other live, I wondered...
「I’m really sorry about that. I didn’t think that someone as skilled as you, Babord, would have lost his concentration just by having us arrive at your battle, after all.」
「Tch!」
When someone retorted like that, you could do nothing but stay silent.
If he had argued more, people would have thought that his rank must have been low.
「Well, leaving the jokes aside, what really happened back there?」
「It was just impossible. Physical attack and magic didn’t work at all. Well, it might have had a bit of an effect, but our stamina and magic ran out long before its magic stone depleted.」
「I knew it. It was impossible, huh.」
「If you want to have go at it, you should prepare yourselves well.」
「Will you stop trying to defeat it?」
「It isn’t worth it. Rather than wasting my time with it, I prefer making a profit by defeating Iron Golems. So, until the soldiers come, we decided to try and earn as much as we can from Iron Golems. What about you guys? You watched our fight, right?」
「We will also pass on it. There is no way we could defeat it. I was honestly hoping that you guys would be able to defeat it, but...」
「Well, excuse me for disappointing you.」
Babord sat down close to us.
「Thanks for telling us. Waitress! A beer for Babord on my tab!」
「Just one, huh!」
「If you have a way to defeat it, I will treat you to more.」
「If I had something like that, I would have gone and defeated it myself without telling you.」
Babord and Jade-san both laughed.
I didn’t really know if they were on good terms or not.
I had later heard that after all of this, they all drank into the night together.
Me? I had went back to my room to sleep, of course.
Author’s note:
As you guys expected, Mithril golem made an appearance! w