Chapter 221. Seven Rooms (3)
While running, Chi-Woo thought that he needed to find the core and strike a powerful blow. There was a way he could achieve this—’the snapping technique.’
The main problem was locating the golem’s core. However, once Chi-Woo approached the golem, all of his thoughts blanked out under the tremendous pressure of the powerful fist slamming down. It didn’t even touch his face yet, but his hair fluttered in the wind.
‘This is—’ Chi-Woo immediately realized he had to avoid the golem’s fist at all costs. He ran diagonally. He had fought a giant once at the Evelaya Volcano. At that time, he won by evading all its attacks and accumulating damage before finishing it off with a single blow. Chi-Woo planned to find the golem’s core in the same way as before, but he was completely taken aback in the next second.
‘What—’ Chi-Woo’s judgment was clearly sound, but there was a factor he had overlooked. The silver golem was on a whole different level than the mutant giant monster, to the point that they were incomparable. The golem was even slightly faster than Chi-Woo at full speed. The golem also changed the trajectory of its attack unbelievably quickly, and Chi-Woo instinctively realized that he couldn’t shake the golem off his back. It was also impossible to lessen the force of the attack without killing himself.
Thus, there was only one option left. He tried to muster as much exorcism mana as possible and face the attack head-on, but he changed his mind after seeing a shining pattern on the surface of the golem’s fist. Unfortunately, it was almost at the same time that the golem’s shining fist hit him.
“!” As soon as he got hit, Chi-Woo couldn’t even let out a gasp from his wide opened mouth. The hands he’d raised in an attempt to block the golem’s fist were pushed back, and his face was pulverized.
Chi-Woo got pushed far back, and only when he slammed into a wall could he let out a harsh cough, “Aaaack!”
The golem’s fist dropped to its side after Chi-Woo got stuck into the wall, and Chi-Woo’s hands fell lifelessly. His face hurt, and there was no strength in both of his arms. All that was left in his body was shock, like he had been electrocuted. While an intense dizziness made Chi-Woo’s whole head turn, he saw the golem raise its fist again. Even while his body was collapsing, Chi-Woo managed to twist around with great struggle. He felt a hot sensation from his shoulder, and his body flew into the air and hit the ground. However, the golem continued to chase after Chi-Woo and reached him within a few steps.
Ru Hiana ran to help Chi-Woo, and Hawa screamed out to him. Dalgil and Bogle, who was treating him, also widened their eyes. And Chi-Woo was hit by a fear he hadn’t felt for a long while as he watched the golem’s feet slowly come down upon him.
‘Ah, I’m going to die.’ At that very moment, one of Hawa’s daggers, which she had been throwing like crazy, coincidentally hit the inside of the golem’s left knee and bounced off, and the golem came to a sudden halt from its mad dash, faltering like a man who was about to be kicked in the balls. Dalgil, with his numerous battle experiences, wasn’t one to miss this opening, and he threw his iron club like a thunderbolt with all his might.
Swoosh! The iron club flew in a straight line and penetrated the inside of the golem’s left knee with precision. There was an ear-piercing roar, and the golem’s enormous body tilted. Soon, a fiery spark shot out from its metal surface, and the golem stopped operating. It toppled backward with its feet up, shaking the ground and sending Chi-Woo flying for a moment. Then he dropped down again.
“Aghh…!” He let out a short moan due to the pain coming from his shoulder and both arms, which registered in his brain belatedly.
“Are you okay!? Are you okay!?” Bogle rushed over and examined his condition. “I-It’s nothing much! You’re fine! J-Just bleeding a little!” Contrary to his words, Bogle took out many healing potions in a frenzy; the sheer number of potions made it clear that his condition must have been quite serious. And yet it wasn’t enough. Steam Bun also crawled out of his pocket and took out a potion on its own before pouring it into Chi-Woo’s mouth. Chi-Woo had told Steam Bun to use all of Shadia’s potions to treat Evelyn during his fight against Zepar, but Steam Bun had kept one just in case.
When Steam Bun sprayed the potion on areas with severe injuries, broken bones were rejoined, and new flesh grew. In addition, Bogle’s healing potion quickly reduced Chi-Woo’s pain.
“Hey! Wake up!” As Bogle grabbed and shook him, Chi-Woo barely managed to open his mouth and spoke with a faint voice, “M-Mr. Ru Amuh…”
Then Bogle realized he had forgotten about Ru Amuh and remembered that there was another golem. “Don’t worry! I treated the captain, so he’ll soon…” He trailed off when he looked back. Dalgil wasn’t helping Ru Amuh out, but instead watching him from far away. Before he could ask what Dalgil was doing, the scene at the back caught his eyes.
The battle at the rear was one-sided—shockingly, with Ru Amuh’s complete advantage. The silver golem swung its fists in all directions, but not a single one of its attacks landed. As expected of someone with rank B agility, Ru Amuh moved at an astounding speed left and right like a fierce storm. And while moving, he continuously swung his sword, and the sharp mana from his blade hit the golem all over. One of the sharp slashes brushed against the golem’s thigh, and it faltered. Eyes shining, Ru Amuh immediately rushed to the golem.
Crunccch! Even before the golem’s fist reached Ru Amuh, the tip of Ru Amuh’s mana-filled sword penetrated the golem’s thigh. It was a clean and amazing blow. When the silver golem fell backwards, Ru Amuh quickly ran toward where Chi-Woo was.
“…Amazing. You’re really like the wind.” Dalgil expressed his admiration openly. He had looked down on Ru Amuh slightly after hearing his rank, but the earlier display made him realize that Ru Amuh was definitely not weaker or less skilled than him.
“I was only able to deal with it easily because I had experience fighting them in my home world.” Ru Amuh spoke with humility like his usual self before asking with concern, “But most importantly, Teacher—”
Only then did Dalgil turn around. Chi-Woo barely managed to get up with his support. He looked at Chi-Woo and asked, “Are you all right?”
“…Yes.”
“That’s a relief. Thanks. Thanks to you, we were able to overcome this crisis without anyone dying.” True to his words, if Chi-Woo hadn’t drawn the golem’s attention, Bogle might have died. Dalgil would have normally ended with a thank you, but he continued, “Still, never do that again from now on.”
“…”
“It’s crazy for a priest to face a golem head-on. It would be better to let me or Bogle die.”
Chi-Woo wanted to say he was not a priest, but he couldn’t bear to open his mouth after such a poor performance in the battle.
“I know you defeated Vepar, but we’re on an expedition. We’re a team. You can trust me a bit more and leave the fighting to me.” Dalgil tapped Chi-Woo’s shoulder a couple of times; head lowered, Chi-Woo turned away as Dalgil gave out instructions. “Bogle, you take care of the injured, and the rest of you, let’s search the remains of the golems just in case we find something helpful.”
Soon after, the passageway where an intense battle had taken place became busy in a different sense as the expedition members searched the golems. Chi-Woo gnawed on his lip the whole time.
“Are you okay? You don’t look so good…”
None of Bogle’s words even reached his ears, and Chi-Woo clenched his teeth. He really learned his lesson this time. He had been under a great illusion, and that illusion had just been shattered by this battle.
[You…the Demon Empire must be a joke to you.]
[Well, I guess it can’t be helped.]
He realized why his brother had made a bitter smile after saying this.
[Doesn’t this mean the change would make it so your existence is no longer a cheat?]
And why Philip had been worried after hearing that the test had changed.
God Mamiya recognized that Chi-Woo’s existence was a cheat against the Demon Empire, so the test was changed. And the experience made Chi-Woo feel his limits keenly. Exorcism mana—as its name suggested, was a type of mana that exorcized evil. But in the end, it was just a mana with a different property than other manas. This was true for his other abilities as well. Chi-Woo had the potential to beat even demigods as long as they were in the evil alignment, but his power was significantly diminished against opponents from different alignments. The recent battle simply revealed Chi-Woo’s current reality.
Chi-Woo clenched his fist in silence. If he had trained just a little more, or if he had just used a weapon and not his bare fist, he might have been able to retaliate better. Chi-Woo finally began to feel the shortcomings that he hadn’t had the need to acknowledge when dealing with opponents from the Demon Empire one by one.
* * *
At the same time.
—They haven’t even opened the first door yet, but they’re struggling a lot.
Someone spoke while looking down at the first floor of Narsha Haram. They had a charming and soft voice, suitable for someone with nine tails.
—Well, it’s a tower of trials after all.
A light and mysterious voice answered.
—Haha. That’s funny coming from you. You passed the tower in just one day.
The owner of the sensual voice laughed and placed their hands on their chin.
—But will it really be alright? Even if it’s okay right now, from the fourth door…wouldn’t it be too hard?
—It won’t be easy, but it can’t be helped.
The mysterious voice was soft, but the tone was firm.
—I also relayed the message to her child; the conditions of the test cannot be fulfilled with the original arrangement.
—I understand what you’re saying, but isn’t your child ov~er there not up to this challenge yet?
—Yes, as you say, Dalgil is lacking right now, but I want to use this relationship and—?
The mysterious voice suddenly rose.
—!
The owner of the sensual voice was also startled; they felt the presence of two other beings in a space that was created only for them.
—Shahnaz?
The owner of the sensual voice immediately recognized one of the beings, and then they trembled when they sensed the other.
—La Bella…!
They immediately got up and prepared to fight, but the owner of the mysterious voice raised his hand and said.
—What a surprise. An important guest…has arrived here.
The owner of the mysterious voice calmly said and straightened his posture.
—It’s them. These two led your and my child to this rotten place.
As soon as Shahnaz appeared, she spoke in a disgruntled and annoyed tone.
—This is our space. Likewise, the tower of trials is also the place where I earned my rights. It’s entirely up to me what I do here.
The owner of the mysterious voice intently kept an eye on La Bella’s hand the whole time he was speaking. Fortunately, the scale on La Bella’s hand showed no signs of moving. However, it showed no signs of withdrawing either.
—…But don’t you know as well? Daughter of Astraea.
The owner of the mysterious voice sighed.
—It’s time for your child to realize it.
He continued with a bit more strength.
—The tower of trials is a space for my child, but also for yours.
—…
—I admit that the difficulty level is high, but it’s only the first floor. Moreover, as they say, the harder the trial, the sweeter the reward.
—…
—Of course, this is only the case if they manage to get the reward, but…as I trust my child, why don’t you try trusting your child as well?
La Bella remained silent. She simply moved the hand holding the scale and stared. An uncomfortable and awkward silence passed between them. After a while, La Bella quietly turned around. Then Shahnaz clicked her tongue and turned away as well with a disappointed expression. The presence of both gods soon vanished, La Bella being the prominent one.
—That was scary…
The sensual voice murmured quietly.
—…Same here.
The mysterious voice smiled bitterly. And like this, Miho and Mamiya breathed a sigh of relief at the same time.
* * *
The expedition thoroughly searched the two silver golems, but wasn’t able to find much. The main object of value were the golems’ cores, which were rendered worthless after getting smashed by Dalgil and Ru Amuh. Just in case, they packed the four bluish jewels embedded in the eyes of the two golems, as well as the parts where the mysterious pattern had appeared. Ru Hiana was worried that they might not be able to carry all of it, but she closed her mouth after seeing Bogle stuff all the silver bundles in his bag with no trouble.
“It’s a bag with an expansion spell.” Bogle grinned and shouldered his bag.
“Since the jewels are large, it’ll probably be 4,500 royals each.” Dalgil took the jewels separately and passed them over to Ru Amuh. Ru Amuh accepted it easily because they had already decided that Ru Amuh and his group would take everything besides the token during the expedition. After a while, the expedition members resumed their march in formation.
They stopped a few times to check the path, but the march was smooth overall. No monsters had appeared since the golems. After going around the maze for a while, the expedition finally reached its first destination. They stopped in front of an ivory door engraved with the pattern of a knife.
“If we open this door, we’ll be moving to the next compartment, right?”
“To be exact, it’s another room,” Hawa answered Dalgil’s question and continued, “If we open this door, we’ll go to another room, and we’ll see another door on the opposite end of the room. We’ll be moving onto the next compartment after opening that door.”
“So what’s in the room?”
“I can see something in it, but I don't know what it is.”
“They’re really not going to let us move on easily,” Dalgil said.
Hawa’s eyes narrowed as she looked up, and Dalgil smacked his lips.
“Sigh… We have to open a total of seven doors…and we just opened one…” Bogle sounded teary.
“Isn’t it too early for you to cry already, Bogle?” Dalgil clutched his iron club and swung it from side to side. “Get back. I’ll open the door on the count of three, so get ready.”
Hawa calmly stepped back, and Dalgil stood in front of the door.
“One, two, three!” Dalgil counted to three and kicked the door. Soon, the door opened wide, and things that looked like stems poured out from the inside. Most of the stems hit Dalgil’s gloves, but one of them dug into his forearm.
“Damn it!” Dalgil quickly swung his iron club and cut off the stem. Then Ru Amuh brought forth a fierce wind, and the stems quickly moved back inside as if they were feeling threatened. Only then was the interior revealed. There was a bright red lump of a monster lying alone in a room. It was about 50 meters in diameter. The monster looked like flesh piled up together, painting a grotesque picture. They also saw dozens of tentacles protruding from its bumpy flesh. It bulged and wriggled as if it was breathing and threateningly moved its tentacles like a whip.
“Bogle, do you know anything about that?”
“No! It’s my first time seeing such a monster! I’ve never even read about it, let alone hear about it!” Bogle shook his head at Dalil’s question.
“Then we have no choice but to face that thing head on.” Dalgil didn’t immediately rush toward the monster, but glanced back first. Ru Amuh nodded in response. Soon after, Dalgil ran towards the monster, and Ru Amuh followed right behind him.
The monster shot out its tentacles as if it had been waiting for them all along. Dalgil did not rush towards them recklessly as before. He curled his body and swung his iron club to strike any incoming tentacle and concentrated on defense. While the monster was focused on Dalgil, Ru Amuh exploited the opening and quickly attacked. Of course, the monster didn’t just stand still doing nothing; it moved its remaining tentacles as soon as it saw Ru Amuh move closer.
The battle had begun, but Chi-Woo looked at his two comrades with a dazed expression. He looked spaced out.
–You can’t do that.
Chi-Woo suddenly heard Philip’s voice.
–Your comrades are fighting with their lives on the line. How dare you space out now?
Chi-Woo came to his senses. However, his expression looked conflicted and sour. ‘…I don’t know what I should do…’
Philip smiled silently at Chi-Woo’s self-deprecative words. If Chi-Woo had said angrily, ‘Then what do you want me to do? There’s nothing I can do anyway’, he would have been furious. However, since Chi-Woo said he didn’t know, it meant that he was still thinking, and he still had the will to do something.
‘Mr. Philip, I have a request.’
–No.
Philip refused without fully hearing what Chi-Woo had to say. When Chi-Woo looked at him with a surprised expression, Philip smirked.
–Of course I’ll fight much better with your body. But no. This isn’t a life-threatening situation. Are you going to ask me to fight for you every time there’s a battle? You might as well give me full control of your body forever then.
Chi-Woo lowered his head at Philip’s sharp rebuke. He knew that everything Philip said was right, but this situation was unbelievably frustrating. Philip stared at Chi-Woo and clicked his tongue.
–I think you’re sorely mistaken.
He sighed and continued.
–It’s true that your fighting power significantly decreases against opponents not in the evil alignment, but that doesn’t mean you’ve become a complete weak ass.
Chi-Woo raised his head. Philip was looking down at him with his arms crossed. He looked more serious than ever without a hint of a smile on his face.
–Hey, you know what?
Philip said suddenly.