The Land of Vampires, Beltane (2)
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“You don’t really need to help, right?”
Ripley said, crossing her arms.
I tilted my head at that.
“Is there any need to not help?”
“It’s troublesome.”
“Then I guess it can’t be helped.”
If a vampire noble says so, I should understand.
In fact, as she said, the battle was manageable even without her help.
“Instead, I’ll give you some strategy info. Aim for that Emerald Golem at the front. That one’s the leader.”
At Ripley’s advice, I strained my eyes to look ahead.
Indeed, a giant golem glowing green was slowly charging at the front.
‘…A golem, huh.’
Golem.
Opinions about this monster vary among scholars, but one common view is that golems are ‘manufactured monsters’.
A hard and dense outer shell.
Strength that becomes a weapon in itself.
Magical materials composed for multipurpose use.
Even a magic stone that acts as an operating device.
Sometimes, golems made with enormous funds even have attack magic stored inside.
In other words, all of this is a kind of ‘magical tool’ created by the golem maker.
And such golems are minions of Baroness Caroline’s domain.
There’s one fact we can deduce from this,
‘Ludenark has extended its reach to Beltane as well.’
Vampire minions are usually undead or common monsters.
For manufactured monsters to become minions, there must be beings who create them.
It’s unlikely that Baron Caroline, who bears the symbol of destruction, is the creator, and it’s highly probable that members of the Ludenark school helped with the creation and provided support.
I was satisfied with finding another clue.
‘Call of the Contract.’
And I summon the third contractor, Jeiten.
-I’ve been waiting, Master.
Now it felt incomplete without this one in ground battles.
‘Jeiten. Run at top speed.’
-Master. Looking at the golems’ speed, it seems we could run at a moderate pace.
‘That doesn’t matter!’
The important thing is that I’m riding Jeiten, and once I’m on, we just run.
Grwooooo-!!
Gruuuu…!!
The heavy golems’ roars echo, and Jeiten charges forward as if to challenge them.
Normally, I would have prepared [Wyvern Spear] and [Accel Piercing], but right now, I don’t feel the need to do so.
‘It’d be a waste to use Accel Piercing.’
While [Accel Piercing] is undoubtedly a skill that shows overwhelming performance in first strikes, it felt wasteful to use it on mere golems like these.
Now my runes and abilities have risen to such a high level that I can inflict sufficient damage on enemies without necessarily using skills.
When the distance to the golems was close enough, I asked Jeiten,
‘Jeiten. How many golems do you think you could handle alone?’
-Master. I am not you.
‘…Even one is difficult?’
-It would be faster for you to hunt twenty than for me to deal with one.
Jeiten seems to have become much smarter when I wasn’t looking.
I nod because it was such a valid point.
‘Then just run all the way to the front and wait from when I jump in. I’ll leap in first.’
-Understood.
‘I’ll be back before this sweat dries.’
-What does that mean?
‘It’s just a saying. Go quickly.’
-I receive your command.
As soon as the order ended, I leapt off Jeiten.
The first to collide is the green-colored golem.
The one Ripley mentioned, and the one I had some information about.
It’s an A-grade top-tier monster, an Emerald Golem.
Golems generally have their ranks determined by the gems used in their creation, and Emerald Golems have their strength and durability increased to nearly the maximum.
Moreover, this one has an additional effect.
‘Those Ludenark bastards, they’ve put black magic in here too.’
Black magic swirling near the Emerald Golem’s operating magic stone.
This was clearly the result of Ludenark school’s special processing of evil-oriented divine power through the [Dark Covenant].
It wasn’t going to be easy to take down a golem that already exerts A-grade top-tier power, with black magic assisting it as well.
‘I’ll just smash it to pieces.’
But I was an expert in dealing with black magic.
I was a Holder who had both the method to break it and the power to do so.
First, I use Art of Weapon Exchange to put on knuckles on both hands.
Then, using the acceleration gained from flying into the sky, I threw a full-power punch at the Emerald Golem.
‘Primordial Furious Attack…!’
The strongest skill that can be used with fists.
It’s a skill that expresses primordial power all too well, true to its name.
Pak-.
Cra, crack-
Kwaaang-!!
With a tremendous impact sound, the Emerald Golem’s chest is shattered.
While [Primordial Furious Attack] itself boasts strong destructive power, there were many buffs that were knowingly or unknowingly attached from various runes or items’ ‘special effects’ that I possessed.
With buffs attached that even I had trouble counting, it was inevitable that the skill’s power would be strong.
This is just a light opening attack.
“Lightning of Judgment.”
…The legendary holy armor conceals an attack skill.
It sounds like a web novel title, but that’s actually what my armor does.
The [Lightning of Judgment] contained in [Trillion’s Brilliant Oath] is a skill that fires highly condensed holy power. The amount of condensation is so great that its power is beyond imagination.
Moreover, if the target has dark attributes or evil tendencies…
Needless to say, it was a skill that inflicted effective damage.
This was, so to speak, the holy power version of [Primordial Furious Attack].
Pat, paaaat-!!
Kwaaang-!!
Craaack-.
Even for a monster that’s essentially reached S-grade, receiving such attacks in succession would inevitably cause serious damage.
I could see the Emerald Golem instantly losing its will to fight and falling into a dying state.
Not stopping there, I drew my holy sword and thrust it near the golem’s magic stone.
[‘You have purified a golem engraved with the ‘Dark Covenant’. The mercy of the holy Sednilen touches the sword. The performance of the holy sword ‘Kelbilid’s True Repentance’ increases.’]
Along with intense holy power, an information window appeared announcing the end of the Emerald Golem.
Seeing this, I realized.
‘…Golems can be purified too?’
It seems that all targets affected by the [Dark Covenant] can become food for the holy sword.
Anyway, the Emerald Golem lost its strength, unable to withstand the final attack.
7 seconds after the battle started.
It hadn’t even been 3 seconds since I flew off Jeiten.
Gr, grwooooo-!!
Gruuuooo…!!
As the Emerald Golem at the front suddenly collapsed, the surrounding golems suddenly became enraged and began to make the ground shake.
These bastards, they know how to get angry too?
It seems the Emerald Golem was sort of the leader among them, and seeing one of its parts completely destroyed with a single punch must have excited them.
Maybe they were designed to naturally become enraged when their leader-type golem takes damage.
Whatever the case, it doesn’t matter.
My impression upon seeing them was just one thing.
“What are you going to do? What can you guys even do?”
Other than slowly running towards me, what can you do?
The enraged golems were charging at me with tremendous momentum, but their speed was pitifully slow.
Moreover, these guys are golems far inferior in power to the Emerald Golem.
In other words, it means I could potentially end the battle with one area-of-effect skill.
I put my thoughts into action.
“Fall.”
By now, [Claw Short Swords] were in both hands thanks to weapon exchange technique.
And then, the ultimate skill unfolds, [Falling Blossoms Aesthetics].
This is the number one contributor that made me an ‘S-grade Holder’.
Kagrrrr-!!
Crack, craaack-.
Kuuuung-!!
I cut down the golems in a trance.
The unpleasant metallic sound of ‘Kagrrrr-’ rings in my ears, and the beautiful falling flowers my sword spreads cut down all the golems within range.
No, I tried to cut them all down, but…
There were quite a lot of them.
‘…Did they bring too many?’
I thought as I was cutting them down.
This is actually why I summoned Jeiten to run first, and performed the act of charging at and attacking the Emerald Golem.
To gather all the nearby golems and get them all within the range of [Falling Blossoms Aesthetics].
There were too many to handle one by one, so I planned to herd them for a hunt and then deal with the aftermath.
Grwooooo-!!
Gruooo-.
But it seems their numbers were far greater than I thought.
The [Falling Blossoms Aesthetics] skill was coming to an end, but the golems’ roars showed no signs of subsiding.
‘I’ll have to change weapons as soon as it ends.’
I reluctantly thought I’d have to bring out the holy sword.
But something strange happened.
At the timing when the [Falling Blossoms Aesthetics] skill should have ended, the remaining magic in the [Claw Short Swords] didn’t seem to want to run out.
‘…What’s this?’
It doesn’t end.
[Falling Blossoms Aesthetics], which scrapes down enemies within range, kept maintaining itself.
[‘The ‘Dark Glory’ effect of the ‘Sword that Swallowed Darkness’ rune is being applied to the ultimate skill ‘Falling Blossoms Aesthetics‘. The magic of opponents dealing with dark attributes is being absorbed, continuously supplying magic to maintain the skill. The ultimate skill ‘Falling Blossoms Aesthetics‘ is being maintained.’]
The reason wasn’t far off.
The [Sword that Swallowed Darkness], which I obtained after defeating Hwang Seong-yeon, has a special effect of taking 30% of the opponent’s dark attribute magic, and this effect was being applied even to the ultimate skill [Falling Blossoms Aesthetics].
After all, the subject using that skill is [Plum Blossom Sword Technique].
Pat- pababat-!!
Grwooooo-!!
Kung! Kuuung!!
Thanks to this, I was able to cut down all the golems within range without stopping.
After the skill casting was all over.
I stood blankly at the spot where the battle had started.
Grwooooo-.
Kuuung-.
[Falling Blossoms Aesthetics] is, after all, an area-of-effect ultimate skill.
The golems didn’t all instantly die with one skill, but most were lying on the ground with some part damaged.
…It seemed to be about 40 of them, and that entire quantity had lost their strength.
“You, are you perhaps a dragon?”
-Master. It’s starting to get scary now.
The two contractors who had approached at some point, muttering while looking at me.
“…That’s unfair.”
This was truly unfair.
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