Chapter 146 – Bear-san Dives Into The Mine, Part 6 – Mithril Golem Part
Since I was now able to easily defeat Iron Golems by using Lightning Magic, I moved forward without a problem.
Anytime an Iron Golem crossed my path, a Bear Lightning Punch took care of it.
Having it easy was great, but Swaying Bear and Hugging Bear seemed bored while only walking beside me and not even getting a turn.
I was happy with them just staying here by my side, though.
「Please help me when I’m in a pinch, okay?」
There was always a chance of something going wrong in fights, so I asked them to help me, just in case.
They suddenly seemed happier. Did they feel better because of what I had said?
Well, they would save me even if I didn’t ask them, right?
You guys would save me, right?
I patted their heads, and they tilted their head in confusion since this was so sudden, but still seemed to like it.
As we kept going forward, I defeated four more Iron Golems without a hitch, so the Bears hadn’t gotten an opportunity to help me.
Now, there were only the five Irons Golem in our way to the Mithril Golem.
Idiot Rangers had defeated them yesterday, but my detection magic confirmed that the five golems had properly respawned.
Wouldn’t it be possible for someone to obtain a permanent iron supply if they could keep defeating those five every day? Well, if they did that, miners would lose their jobs and become homeless.
These golems had both good and bad sides to them.
People who could defeat them would be able to earn a lot of money, but others would suffer in return.
Also, there was more to mine than just iron here, bringing even more trouble to the miners.
Well, it wasn’t my job to think about the mining industry; that job was for nobles.
My job was to defeat the golems that had appeared in the mine. More precisely, my job was to defeat the one we believed was responsible for all of this, the Mithril Golem.
I would be done here if killing the Mithril Golem ended the golem troubles. If it didn’t end it, I would just have to leave them to the country.
Either way, what I had to do didn’t change. Using my Bear Lightning Punches, I defeated the five Iron Golems, then descended to the lower floor to defeat the Mithril Golem.
The map changed, and I found the Mithril Golem’s signal with detection magic. I really hoped this would end after I defeated it.
I kept moving forward until I reached the crevice where the Mithril Golem was and saw traces of fighting all around. There were a lot of crumbled rocks and slashes on the walls left behind by wind magic.
Was it from when Idiot Rangers had fought the Mithril Golem yesterday?
They probably hadn’t paid attention to the possible collapse, so it was great that nothing had happened.
In the middle of this mess, the Mithril Golem stood looking at me.
So, it already noticed me? Well then, time to fight.
I told Swaying Bear and Hugging Bear to fall back, and faced the Mithril Golem on my own.
Still, I shouldn’t fight here. I wasn’t like those Idiot Rangers and couldn’t just use strong magic or Bear Punches because I feared the tunnel collapsing.
All I needed was to take this to a place where I could use my Bear Cheats to their full potential, so I took out a Bear Transfer Gate big enough for even Swaying Bear and Hugging Bear to pass through. Since the golem was about the same size as my Bears, it should also be able to use it.
Okay then, should we go to a place where we can fight fair and square using our full strengths? Golems usually had high defense, but since they were slow, a brute force approach should work.
As the Mithril Golem charged at me, its feet making loud ‘Thud’, ‘Thud’ sounds, I opened the door with the Bear Hand.
I felt as if I was waiting for a bull to charge at me, but since the golem was slow, I wasn’t scared at all. If it had been as quick as the Black Tiger, then I would have been scared and might have even needed a red mantle.
I sidestepped the approaching Mithril Golem, ducked behind its back, and used Bear Punch to send it into the Bear Transfer Gate.
My Bears and I quickly followed through and were met by a vast coastline.
It was open enough to fight without holding back, and all that was above us were some clouds in a blue sky. Unlike the mine, this place couldn’t crumble even if I used my Bear Cheat.
We were close to Mireera, but far enough that nobody could see us.
Also, this was where I had practiced Lightning Magic yesterday, so I knew I could go wild here.
Well then, should we fight to our hearts’ content?
I faced the Mithril Golem and saw it had fallen from taking my Bear Punch.
「With this, we can both fight without having to take care of our surroundings, right?」
I said without expecting an answer, but as if it understood me, the Mithril Golem stood up and faced me.
Well, even though I had said we both, I planned on attacking it one-sidedly.
I launched a fireball at the golem and scored a direct hit, but the golem took it as if nothing had happened. Wind Magic, Earth Magic, and Ice Magic didn’t work either.
Wasn’t this a bit unfair?
I shouldn’t be the one to complain, though.
How about this then?
「Bear Cutter!」
I imagined bear claws and launched wind magic.
The golem was sent flying from the impact, but there was no visible damage.
No wait, when the Mithril Golem stood up, I saw three thin lines on its chest. I was able to damage it, it seemed.
Would I be able to defeat it if I just kept launching Bear Cutters at the same place?
Maybe, but I had already launched my next piece of magic: a Fire Bear from my Bear Hand.
I didn’t believe I could melt the golem, but I still tried throwing one at it.
The golem grabbed the Fire Bear with its hands; doing so would have been the end for any normal monster, but the golem managed to stop the Fire Bear; the flames warped around its hands before disappearing without dealing any damage.
As expected, it didn’t work?
Wait, now that I looked more carefully, it did seem to have melted a little bit?
I should be able to defeat it if I launched enough Fire Bears, but I couldn’t get its mithril if I melted it, so I put that idea on hold.
Well then, I didn’t believe it would work, but how about the Lightning Magic I had learned yesterday?
I gathered lightning around the Bear Hand and hit the slowly approaching Mithril Golem with a Bear Lightning Punch. The Mithril Golem was sent flying by the Bear Punch, but the electricity didn’t seem to have effected it.
Hmm, it really didn’t work, as I had expected.
I was attacking it one-sidedly, but could the Mithril Golem really do nothing more than try to strike me down?
Well, I shouldn’t really call being hit by those enormous arms nothing, but I could escape the moment it got close, so in a way, this felt as if I was attacking some sort of indestructible dummy that could be found in games.
I had tested out everything I wanted, so it was about time to end this.
I gathered magic power inside the Bear Hand and charged at the Mithril Golem. Once I was close enough, I used wind magic and hit it from underneath with a Bear Uppercut.
Wind magic combined with a Bear Uppercut sent the Mithril Golem high into the sky.
It went a thousand meters up... or at least that was what it seemed like to me since there was no way for me to know how high it had actually flown.
I didn’t happen to have a special power that let me know how high a plane was flying or how high a skyscraper was.
Well, I did know that there was nothing that wouldn’t break from falling from this height.
Even though it was made of mithril, considering the golem’s weight, the fall distance and speed, it shouldn’t come out unscathed, especially when it was also spinning while falling.
Had that happened because I had put some rotation into my Bear Uppercut?
The Mithril Golem crashed into the ground with a loud noise, causing a small earthquake.
This should be enough to defeat it, right?
Just as I thought that, the Mithril Golem tried to get up like some sort of a broken robot.
It could still move after falling from this height, huh. How tough could it be?
The magic stone should have been destroyed from such a shock.
Still, even though it managed to stand up, it was in a really bad shape.
One of its arms had been destroyed, and its head was bent at a strange angle. Its whole body was fractured in many places from the hard landing, and I even saw the magic stone in the midst of the cracks where I had first hit it with my wind magic.
Well then, destroying the magic stone should finish this.
I ran at the now even slower Mithril Golem and sent a Bear Lightning Punch at its magic stone; the electricity passed through the cracks and destroyed the stone, making the golem stop completely.
It would be great if the golems stopped spawning at the mine now.
With my fight finished, Swaying Bear and Hugging Bear approached, seemingly worried about me.
「I’m okay.」
I petted their heads and put the Mithril Golem inside the Bear Box.
I killed it in a really terrible fashion, but I had no other choice. Well, I wanted to make weapons and a dismantling knife from it, so there was no real problem.
With the golem securely put away, I went back to the mine through the Bear Transfer Gate.
I then put away the Bear Transfer Gate at the mine, but I would also have to put away the other Bear Transfer Gate even though it was at a place nobody went to.
I would have to go there tonight or tomorrow.
Since I was now back in the mine, I looked around.
In games, there was always something in the boss room...
A treasure, or a treasure... or there might be the thing that made the golems respawn.
There might also be a hidden room, so I inspected every wall to check.
There was nothing.
Even though I had been sure that there would be something...
Well, there was no helping it, so I should just go back. When I turned around to leave, I saw Swaying Bear and Hugging Bear digging a hole.
「What is it?」
I asked and approached them.
They were digging at the place where the Mithril Golem had been standing before.
I hadn’t thought about this possibility. It might have been protecting something.
I looked at the hole my Bears made and saw two dully shining stones.
「What’s that?」
I asked the Bears, but they only tilted their heads.
You two had dug it up, right? Why didn’t you know then? I grumbled to myself.
I took the stones out of the hole and noticed that they were only about the size of my fists.
I inspected them, but since I wasn’t a blacksmith or an ore maniac, I had no way of knowing what the stones were. They could just be normal stones, or they could be special.
This was where my Bear Skills could shine.
I used the Observing Eyes of the Bear.
Bearmonite, a mysterious ore.
That was all that it said.
More importantly, what was up with this name...
Was it mocking me?
The god that had brought me to this world must have named it like this, right?
An ore with such a name.... It wasn’t spread throughout this world, right?
Wait, there had been something about this in the letter I had received from the god when I had come here.
『There are other presents, so do your best to find them, okay?』
Was this ore possibly one of them?
Still, even if this was the case, couldn’t he do something about his horrible naming sense?
Also, how was I supposed to use this mysterious ore?
There had always been some hints in the game, you know!
I couldn’t accomplish anything by complaining, so I thanked Swaying Bear and Hugging Bear for finding it by petting their heads.
I wondered how many times had I petted their heads by now. Well, it was my way of thanking them, so I would keep doing it as long as I wanted or until the Bears started to dislike it.
They looked quite happy right now, though.
Author’s note:
I have been thinking about Bearmonite since the time I decided to discard the Goblin King’s Sword.
At first, I thought of making her find it after digging in the Dwarf Realm, but it seems like it will be a while before she goes there, so I made it appear now.
Also, I planned on making it into a weapon before, but not so sure now.
PS: Stories without dialogue are a pain. Authors that normally make the story advance through the conversation really have trouble when without it.
That doesn’t mean that I will make Swaying Bear and Hugging Bear talk, though. ｗ