Chapter 46: Nightmare Floor 4 (2)

– Black Golems are 100% immune to damage below a certain threshold… Please be careful in your response…

…What is it this time?

Immune to damage below a certain threshold?

Ding—

The remains of the previous Red Golems vanished, and the entrance opened.

Thump, thump, thump.

A Black Golem walked out.

As expected, only the color was different; its form was the same as the other Golems. A bipedal body with a core embedded right in the center.

Fliya pounced and struck it with her front paw.

However, the Black Golem only staggered for a moment before ignoring her and advancing. It didn’t seem to have taken any damage.

Fliya climbed onto the Golem’s body entirely and began to bite it.

Only then did cracks appear on the Golem’s body and pieces start to break off, suggesting actual damage.

I stiffened as I watched the scene.

Wait a minute… the defense is this high?

Does it mean it just ignores everything unless it’s an attack of a certain strength?

I let the one fighting Fliya go and looked at the next Golem.

As soon as the next Golem emerged from the entrance, I fired a Flame Strike.

I concentrated all five fireballs to hit a single spot.

K-booooom!

With a large explosion, part of the Golem’s upper body was blown away, but it didn’t fall.

I was starting to feel flustered.

‘If even this can’t get a one-shot kill…’

Things are getting pretty difficult.

Another Golem comes out.

I cast Burning Zone and laid it across the entrance path.

The bodies of the Golems entering the area caught fire.

However, they continued to stride forward as if they felt no damage.

It seemed the damage from a continuous-type Skill wasn’t reaching the damage threshold.

‘Damn it.’

Magic Bullets would obviously be out of the question.

I let the second Golem pass as well, jumped down in front of the third Golem, and cast Blade Gale.

Kwaaaaa!

It felt much heavier than the Red Golems, so it didn’t even get pushed back much.

There didn’t seem to be… any particular damage either.

I climbed back onto the wall and looked back toward Fliya.

The Golem Fliya was clinging to finally shattered and collapsed only after reaching the corner of the 1st course.

The second Golem, which had been hit by Flame Strike, had reached two-thirds of the 1st course.

As soon as the Flame Strike cooldown reset, I concentrated all five fireballs again and fired them at the second Golem.

K-booooom!

Only then did the second Golem go down.

Fortunately, it couldn’t withstand two hits.

I used Time Stop and organized my thoughts for a moment.

Looking at it now, the only attacks that worked against the Black Golem were Flame Strike and Fliya’s full-power attacks. The Destruction Line would work too, of course.

Seeing as even Blade Gale did no damage, it was likely that even Flame Strike could only inflict damage if the hits were concentrated.

It went without saying that the rest of my minor attack skills wouldn’t work at all.

‘It’s getting tough…’

For now, the current five Golems are manageable according to my calculations.

I could block them all before they reached the exit without using the Destruction Line.

But when the next stage comes, they’ll come out in groups of ten or twenty.

…For now, let’s clean up this stage.

I resumed Time.

The remaining three Golems had all emerged from the entrance.

I left the third Golem to Fliya and fired a Flame Strike at the fourth Golem as soon as the cooldown was up.

K-booooom!

I had to save the Destruction Line.

Its cooldown is 3 minutes, so it’s my ultimate move that I can’t even fully recover during the 1-minute rest Time.

Fliya handled the third Golem, and I handled the fourth.

I was able to finish off the final fifth Golem at around the two-thirds mark of the 2nd course.

The light changed to blue.

“Whew…”

I took a breather and used Time Stop.

Organizing thoughts again.

I had to plan how to handle ten of them based on the information I just gathered.

First off, even in Nightmare, the Golems’ movement speed and intervals are no different from other difficulties.

30 seconds for the 1st course, and a total of 150 seconds to reach the Exit at the end of the 5th course.

And based on the intervals, the maximum number of Golems that could be lined up in one course was five.

If I wanted to cram more than that into one course, I would have to delay their advance…

The time it took Fliya to destroy one Black Golem was about 30 seconds.

In other words, it took the same amount of time as traveling through one course.

My Flame Strike cooldown was also 30 seconds.

However, since I had to hit each Golem twice with Flame Strike, it meant it took me 60 seconds to process one.

The traits were one thing, but as the stages progressed, the Golems’ basic stats were also getting stronger.

Just delaying the advance of a Black Golem was harder than with the previous Golems.

…After running a simulation in my head, it seemed possible to handle up to ten without the Destruction Line.

‘I don’t think I can handle twenty, though.’

When there are twenty, I would have to cluster the Golems into one course as much as possible and use the Destruction Line.

The only problem was that the Golems came out at intervals, but if I pushed them together as much as possible, it was entirely feasible to fit all twenty into one course.

The trait isn’t damage reduction; it’s ignoring damage below a certain threshold, right?

The Destruction Line’s damage should go through completely, so I could aim for a total sweep.

Ah, but besides that, this is really strange…

Am I even following the right Strategy Guide?

The Golems are getting stronger, but I don’t even know how many stages there are.

I looked around the Workshop once more.

Entrance, exit, mechanical structures, fallen Golem remains on the path.

I can’t leave through the entrance or exit, and I have to stay here and face the Golems.

…Destroy some device to stop the Golems from coming out?

For that to be the case, all the structures here were indestructible objects to prevent terrain modification.

The only things that could be destroyed in this place were the Golems I just defeated, as seen in the remains over there.

Even searching the Workshop further didn’t reveal anything particularly suspicious.

I stayed in Time Stop and thought for a long while, running my brain cells’ creativity at full capacity.

But no other ideas came to mind.

I feel like there’s definitely something, but I don’t know what it is, damn it…

I resumed Time.

The rest Time ended, and the light turned red.

Ten Golems, Stage 11 begins.

The Golem remains on the path vanished, and a new Golem emerged from the entrance.

I handled them in the same way as when there were five.

Fliya took one, and I took one.

While dealing damage with Flame Strike, I also used Blade Gale whenever the cooldown was up to delay the Golems’ advance as much as possible.

When my Willpower ran low, I stopped Time and refilled it.

In that manner, I processed the Golems one by one.

I finished off the first half—five Golems—as they reached almost the end of the 2nd course, just like before.

And the remaining five.

It was close, but I managed to take them all down in the 4th course without letting them cross into the 5th.

Thus, Stage 11 also ended safely.

Now Stage 12 remained.

Yeah, twenty Golems definitely won’t work without the Destruction Line.

“Destruction isn’t the priority this time, Fliya. Just push them back and knock them down as much as possible. We have to block the path no matter what.”

I commanded Fliya.

This time, it would be hopeless if Fliya just clung to them one by one.

I barely handled ten in the 4th course; there was no way I could handle twenty before they reached the exit.

So, it had to be a path-block.

Cluster the Golems into one course as much as possible and sweep them away with the Destruction Line.

Ding—

The Golem remains on the path vanished, and Stage 12 began.

Fliya focused only on delaying the Golems’ advance as I commanded.

Kwang!

She rammed into them with her body and struck them with her front paws.

Fliya tried to knock them down by aiming for their legs as much as possible.

What I expected was to trip one, have the ones behind it get caught and unable to move, thus causing a bottleneck in the path…

But these crazy Golems just kept advancing blindly. And their forward momentum was too strong.

Fliya managed to trip one, but the ones behind it just tried to step over it or pushed with their legs, continuing forward like mindless brutes.

The Golems don’t attack, but Fliya taking the brunt of them pushing forward in a swarm was damage in itself.

If Fliya reached her limit and was unsummoned, it would be over, so I couldn’t push her too hard.

Kwaaaaa!

Of course, I also helped block them with everything I had.

I fired off Blade Gale, Flame Strike, and all my other weak Magic spells to push the Golems back even a little bit more. Since I could only use the Ice Dagger once, I saved it as much as possible.

All twenty had not even finished coming out of the entrance yet.

Hold out, retreat a little.

Repeating that, I realized corners were easier than straight paths, and I held out there again as if under siege.

It takes about 2 minutes for all twenty to emerge.

Has it been 1 minute now?

Having reached the limit of holding out, we gave up the 1st course, and Fliya and I retreated to the 2nd.

Fliya acted as the meat shield again, and I helped by using skills as the cooldowns reset.

I almost got crushed while trying to squeeze between the Golems to use a skill, but I escaped using Teleportation.

It’s truly relentless.

That was the only thought in my head.

I endured stubbornly, managing Fliya so she wouldn’t die.

Finally, 2 minutes passed, and all twenty Golems had emerged from the entrance.

The Golems were currently stretched from the 2nd course to the 1st.

Should I use it now?

No, just a little… just a little more.

If possible, let’s cram them all into the 2nd course.

At the edge of the 2nd course, Fliya and I began our final stand.

After a period of endurance where every second felt agonizingly long.

Finally, all the Golems stood in a single line within one course.

As soon as I confirmed that, I had Fliya retreat and used Time Stop.

‘Die, all of you.’

Two Golems had been destroyed while holding out, leaving eighteen in total.

But… still, even with this, is a total sweep possible with so many?

I don’t know, we’ll see.

After finishing 300 seconds of Concentration, I cast a full-charge Destruction Line.

A black beam stretched out, filling my entire vision.

“…!”

After the beam subsided.

What lay before me were Golems lined up with holes blown right through the center of their bodies.

It had perfectly penetrated every single one.

…It really is ridiculously strong.

The Golems collapsed in heaps.

I climbed back onto the wall and confirmed that the light had changed to blue.

With this, Stage 12 was also cleared.

“Haaa…”

I was able to take a breather.

Honestly, I had debated until the very last moment whether to choose Physical Ability Reduction or the Destruction Line Ban penalty.

If I had chosen the Destruction Line Ban, I would have been truly screwed.

“…”

However, though I had cleared it somehow.

The clear message still didn’t appear.

‘I wasn’t even expecting it, but…’

When on earth does this end?

No, is there even an end?

If even stranger and stronger Golems come out, I really won’t be able to hold out.

Now, I was almost certain.

I was definitely missing something. Something.

“…?”

Just then, the Golem remains on the path caught my eye.

Black Golems with holes blown through the center of their bodies.

Strangely enough, the cores that had been embedded in the center of their torsos remained intact and had fallen to the floor.

They were hit directly by the Destruction Line… but those are intact?

It was something I could have easily overlooked, but it felt a bit out of place.

I walked toward the Golem remains as if possessed.

I reached out to pick up a core that had fallen among the wreckage.

But the moment my fingertip touched the core…

“…Huh?”

The core vanished as if melting away.

And a series of windows popped up before my eyes.