Chapter 46
- Black Golems have 100% Immunity to Damage Below a Certain Threshold... Please be careful when responding...
...What is it this time?
Immunity to Damage Below a Certain Threshold?
Ding-
The remnants of the previous red golems disappeared, and the Entrance opened.
Thud thud thud.
A Black Golem walked out.
As expected, only the color was different, and the form was the same as the other golems. It was bipedal, with a core embedded right in the middle of its body.
Flee jumped in and struck it with his front paw.
However, the Black Golem staggered for a moment, then ignored the effect and advanced. It didn't seem to take much damage.
Flee climbed completely onto the golem's body and began to bite and tear at it.
Only then did the golem's body crack and break, showing signs of taking damage.
I stiffened my expression as I watched the sight.
Wait a minute... Its defense is this high?
Does it mean it just ignores everything unless it's an attack with a considerable amount of power?
I let the one fighting Flee go and looked at the next golem.
As soon as the next golem came out of the Entrance, I launched Flame Strike.
I concentrated the five fireballs to hit a single spot.
BOOOOM!
Along with a massive explosion, a part of the golem's upper body was blown away, but it didn't fall.
I was slowly getting flustered.
‘If even this doesn't one-shot it...’
Isn't this a bit too troublesome?
Another golem came out.
I cast Scorching Zone and laid it on the Path at the Entrance.
The bodies of the golems that entered the area caught fire.
But they continued to walk with long strides, as if they took no damage.
It seemed the damage level of a continuous skill fell short of the Damage Threshold.
‘Damn it.’
Mana Bullets would obviously fall completely short.
I let the second golem pass as well, and cast Blade Storm while jumping down in front of the third golem.
SWOOOSH!
It felt much heavier than the red golems, so it didn't even bounce back much.
And damage... didn't really seem to exist either.
I climbed back up onto the Wall and looked back toward Flee.
The golem that Flee had been biting and holding onto shattered and collapsed only after reaching the corner of Course 1.
The second golem, which had been hit by Flame Strike, had reached two-thirds of the way through Course 1.
As soon as the cooldown for Flame Strike returned, I concentrated all five fireballs again and launched them at the second golem.
BOOOOM!
Only then did the second golem go down.
Fortunately, it couldn't withstand two hits.
I stopped time and briefly organized my thoughts.
Looking at it now, the only attacks that worked on the Black Golem were Flame Strike and Flee's all-out attacks. Line of Destruction would obviously work, too.
Seeing as even Blade Storm dealt no damage, it was likely that Flame Strike could only inflict damage if it was concentrated and hit accurately.
It was obvious that the rest of the Minor Attack Skills wouldn't work at all.
‘This is getting tough...’
Right now, the current five are fine according to my calculations.
I could sufficiently block them all before they reached the Exit without using Line of Destruction.
But when the next Stage comes, they'll come out in tens and twenties again, won't they?
...Let's clear the current Stage first.
I used Time Release again.
The remaining three golems had all come out of the Entrance as well.
I left the third golem to Flee, and launched Flame Strike at the fourth golem as soon as the cooldown returned.
BOOOOM!
I had to save Line of Destruction.
Because its cooldown was 3 minutes, it was my ultimate trump card that couldn't even fully recover during the 1-minute Break Time.
Flee took care of the third golem, and I took care of the fourth golem.
I was able to finish off the final fifth golem at about the two-thirds mark of Course 2.
The light changed to blue.
"Phew..."
I took a breather and used Time Stop.
I am organizing my thoughts again.
I had to formulate a plan to deal with ten of them based on the information I just obtained.
First of all, even in Nightmare, the movement speed and spacing of the golems were no different from other difficulties.
30 seconds for Course 1, and a total of 150 seconds to reach the Exit at the end of Course 5.
And based on the spacing, the maximum number of golems that could line up in one Course was five.
To cram more than that into a single Course, I would have to rely on Advanced Prevention...
The time it took for Flee to defeat one Black Golem was about 30 seconds.
In other words, it took the time required to travel through an entire Course.
My Flame Strike cooldown was also 30 seconds.
However, since I had to hit each one twice with Flame Strike, it essentially took me 60 seconds to take care of one.
Traits were one thing, but as the Stage went up, the Base Stats of the golems were also getting gradually stronger.
Just preventing the advance of the Black Golems was harder than preventing the advance of the previous golems.
...As I ran a simulation in my head, for now it seemed possible to handle up to ten without Line of Destruction.
‘I don't think twenty will work.’
For the twenty, I had to herd the golems into a single Course as much as possible and use Line of Destruction.
It was only a problem because the golems came out with gaps between them; if I herded them as much as possible, it was entirely possible to fit all twenty into one Course.
Their trait wasn't Damage Reduction, but Damage Ignore below a certain threshold, right?
The damage from Line of Destruction would go through completely, so I could aim for a clean sweep.
Ah, but more than that, this is really strange...
Am I really clearing this properly right now?
The golems are getting stronger, but I don't even know how many Stages there are.
I looked around the Workshop once again.
The Entrance, the Exit, the mechanical structures, the fallen Golem Remnants on the Path.
I couldn't leave through the Entrance or Exit, and I had to stay trapped here dealing with the golems.
...Destroy some device to stop the golems from coming out?
The structures here were all Indestructible Objects to prevent terrain alteration.
The only things that could be destroyed in this place were the golems I had just taken down, as evidenced by the remnants over there.
Even after a continuous search of the Workshop, nothing particularly suspicious stood out.
While time was stopped, I used my creativity to its fullest and thought for a long time.
However, no other ideas came to mind.
I felt like there was definitely something, but I just didn't know what it was, damn it...
I used Time Release.
The Break Time ended, and the light changed to red.
Stage 11 starts with ten golems.
The Golem Remnants on the Path disappeared, and a new golem came out of the Entrance.
I dealt with them in the same way as when there were five.
Flee took one, and I took one.
While dealing damage with Flame Strike, I also cycled Blade Storm every cooldown to maximize Advance Prevention against the golems.
When my Willpower ran out, I stopped time and refilled it.
Like that, I took care of the golems one by one.
I finished off five of them, just like before near the end of Course 2.
And the remaining five.
It was close, but I was able to take them all down in Course 4 without letting them cross into Course 5.
Like that, Stage 11 also ended safely.
Now Stage 12 remained.
As expected, twenty of them wouldn't be possible without Line of Destruction.
"Destruction isn't the priority this time, Flee. Just push them back and knock them down as much as possible. We have to block the path no matter what."
I commanded myself to flee.
This time, there would be no answer if Flee just bit and held onto them one by one.
I barely managed to take care of ten in Course 4, so there was absolutely no way I could take care of twenty before they went out the Exit.
Therefore, body-blocking the path was an absolute must.
I would herd the golems into one Course as much as possible and sweep them away with Line of Destruction.
Ding-
The Golem Remnants on the Path disappeared, and Stage 12 began.
Flee focused solely on the advance prevention of the golems according to my command.
CRASH!
He was ramming with his body and striking with his front paws.
Flee aimed for the golems' legs as much as possible to try and knock them down.
What I expected was to knock one down, have the ones behind it trip over it and be unable to advance, thus causing a traffic jam on the Path...
These crazy golem bastards just advanced blindly, and their forward momentum was too strong.
Flee managed to knock one down, but the ones behind it just tried to step over it, or persisted in moving forward by pushing with their legs.
The golems weren't attacking, but Flee's enduring their swarming and pushing forward was damaging in itself.
If Flee reached his limit and was Unsummoned, it would be over, so I couldn't overwork him too much.
SWOOOSH!
Of course, I also helped with the prevention with all my might.
I fired off Blade Storm, Flame Strike, and all other weak magic spells to push the golems back even a little bit more. Ice Dagger was a one-time-use spell, so I saved it as much as possible.
All twenty hadn't even come out of the Entrance yet.
They were holding out, and retreating little by little.
While repeating that, I realized that corners were easier than straight paths, so we held out there again like we were under siege.
It would take about 2 minutes for all twenty to come out.
Has it been 1 minute now?
Reaching the limit of holding out any longer, we gave up Course 1, and Flee and I retreated to Course 2.
Flee tanked with his body again, and I helped by using skills as soon as their cooldowns returned.
I almost got crushed while squeezing between the golems to use a skill, but managed to escape using Teleportation.
This is truly sickening.
That was the only thought in my head.
I stubbornly held out while adjusting so that Flee wouldn't die.
Finally, 2 minutes passed, and all twenty came out of the Entrance.
Currently, the golems are spread out from Course 2 to Course 1.
Should I use it about now?
No, just a little... just a little more.
Since we're at it, let's try to herd them all into Course 2.
At the very end of Course 2, Flee and I entered our final stand.
A time of endurance passed, when every single second felt disgustingly long.
Finally, all the golems stood in a single line within one Course.
As soon as I confirmed that, I made Flee step back and stopped time.
‘Drop dead, all of you.’
Two golems were destroyed while we held out, making a total of eighteen.
But this... even so, with this many, is a clean sweep possible?
I don't know. I'll find out when I see it.
After finishing 300 seconds of Mental Concentration, I cast a fully charged Line of Destruction.
The Black Ray shot out and completely filled my vision.
"...!"
The ray faded away.
What unfolded before my eyes were the golems lined up with gaping holes right through the middle of their bodies.
It had perfectly pierced through every single one of them.
...It really is crazy strong.
The golems crumbled down in droves.
I climbed back up onto the Wall and confirmed that the light had changed to blue.
With this, Stage 12 was also cleared.
"Haa..."
I was able to catch my breath.
Honestly, I had debated until the very end about which to choose between the Physical Ability Reduction and Line of Destruction ban penalties.
If I had chosen the Line of Destruction ban, I really would have been screwed.
"..."
But I somehow managed to clear it.
Still, the Strategy Message didn't pop up.
‘I didn't expect it, but...’
When the hell does this end.
No, is there even an end?
If weirder and stronger golems come out, I really won't be able to hold out.
Now it was almost a certainty.
I was definitely missing something. Something.
"...?"
Just then, the Golem Remnants on the Path suddenly caught my eye.
The Black Golems had been destroyed with gaping holes right through the middle of their bodies.
Bizarrely, only the cores that had been embedded in the center of their bodies remained intact and fell to the floor.
They took a direct hit from Line of Destruction... but they are intact?
It was something I could have just passed by without much thought, but it felt a little out of place.
I approached the Golem Remnants as if possessed.
I reached out my hand to pick up a core that had fallen among the remnants.
But the moment the tip of my finger touched the core...
\[200P Acquired.\]
"...Huh?"
The core disappeared as if melting away.
A series of windows popped up before my eyes.
\[Shop\]
- Physical Damage +10% (100P)
- Magic Damage +10% (100P)
- Willpower +10% (100P)
- Attribute Conversion (500P)
- Force Field (50P)
- Slow (50P)
- Stop (100P)
- Special Gacha! (5,000P)
Points Held: 200P
(The Shop Effects will disappear upon exiting the 4th Floor.)