Chapter 53

The soldiers had witnessed the entire scene.

They saw the dragon who called itself Veevle tear off the arm of the giant golem.

They saw the countless golems suddenly freeze.

They saw the frozen golems start to move again, only to have their chests punched by their own fists.

They saw Veevle bite through the remaining arm of the golem.

They saw the golem start to move and advance again at the same time.

And they saw the golem suddenly stop moving.

The soldiers, who had been watching from a distance, could not understand what had happened to the stopped golem. Veevle, who had been fighting the golem, had been slammed to the ground after biting through its arm and was just getting back up.

If there was another possibility, it might have been that the heroes fighting alongside Veevle had done something, but the soldiers, who were focused on the battle with other golems and were too far away, had no idea where the heroes were.

"Ah."

No one knew who had let out that voice.

The giant golem, which had been stationary for a while, slowly collapsed as if its purpose had been fulfilled. Its legs had collapsed under its own weight.

Yes, even though it was different in size, it was still a golem made of rock. The soldiers, who had fought golems many times, knew this all too well.

When a golem was defeated, its body would collapse and return to rock. If the same phenomenon was happening to the giant golem...

As the collapse progressed and the original form was lost, the soldiers finally realized they had won.

Unaware of the situation outside, those inside the Mountain Golem were in a panic.

Right after the Mountain Golem stopped, Chaos and the others were half-skeptical about whether they had defeated it or not. Just as they were starting to think they might have defeated it, the shaking intensified again before they could confirm.

"Not this! We didn't defeat it?! We already destroyed the core!"

"Wait, something seems off."

While everyone was trembling at the Mountain Golem continuing to move even after its core was destroyed, Alexia calmly spoke. Chaos looked around.

He then realized that this shaking was different from the previous ones. It was more intense, and cracks were running through the rocks, with debris falling from above.

"Hey, I have a question."

Cornelia asked in a trembling voice.

"What happens when you defeat a giant golem?"

A golem cannot maintain its form once its core is destroyed. If this applied to this golem, what would happen to them inside it?

The collapse had already begun, and there was no time to escape leisurely.

Naturally, everyone's face turned pale.

"Everyone, come closer to me!"

Panicked, Alexia immediately gave instructions. A rock fell on her head.

"Dangerous!"

Unable to push her away, Chaos covered Alexia. Almost simultaneously, the Mountain Golem collapsed.

Chaos slowly got up.

The shaking had stopped, and the collapse seemed to have ended, but the sound of the collapse was so loud that he couldn't hear anything. He realized he was still buried in the rubble. He traced his memory back to before the collapse.

He suddenly remembered and immediately checked the condition of the girl he was holding in his arms. Alexia was unconscious but not injured. He was relieved for a moment, but then he became worried about the other companions and looked around.

Irene was right next to Chaos and Alexia. The remaining four were a little further away. Havoc and Liam, who had lost consciousness after being attacked by the Mountain Golem, were with Emilia and Cornelia. None of them were responding, but they seemed to be just unconscious.

All of his companions were safe. Knowing this, Chaos sighed in relief. However, he was puzzled that no one had suffered serious injuries despite being caught in such a collapse.

"Of course. 'Intelligence Shield.'"

Chaos found the answer and muttered to himself.

Alexia's last instruction. It meant to take refuge within the range of her 'Intelligence Shield,' which would minimize the damage. The effect had lasted until she fainted, minimizing the impact of the collapse.

Emilia and Cornelia were with Havoc and Liam, likely because they were treating their injuries and, upon hearing Alexia's voice, had dragged them to safety.

"Amazing, Lady Alexia."

Chaos praised Alexia, who had saved everyone with a quick decision. Her quick thinking in such a crisis was remarkable.

"But..."

Chaos looked at the positions of his fallen companions again. When the rock fell, he had acted without thinking about the 'Intelligence Shield.'

The rock was large, and the two people directly beneath it were supporting Chaos. Not only Alexia but also Irene were included. Even in a situation where he had to choose, why did he instinctively protect Alexia first? This question crossed his mind.

As Chaos bowed his head, the rubble was cleared away.

"Hey, are you okay?"

Veevle's face appeared through the gap in the cleared rubble.

"Yeah, somehow. How about you?"

"That level of collapse won't hurt me."

"That's good. I couldn't grasp the situation outside. How are the other soldiers?"

"Yes, they were inspired. The sight of the giant golem being defeated was quite shocking. The golems have been annihilated. It's a victory for our side."

So, we won, Chaos thought in a daze.

However, as the realization that he had been involved in the battle and contributed to the victory slowly sank in, he clenched his hand tightly.

The crystal fell to the ground with a thud.

"Unbelievable, unbelievable, unbelievable! What the hell was that! I didn't ask for this!"

Carmilla screamed hysterically. She was dressed in a dazzling black dress and wore a look of intense anger.

Carmilla's plan was to use the Mountain Golem to cause significant damage to the commune again. This would surely bring out the black-haired boy. After all, he had been interfering with their actions so much that it was inevitable.

The boy's power was a threat. The power to defeat a horde of monsters alone. Any ordinary opponent would be immediately repelled. They had no choice but to play their strongest card.

So, Carmilla thought of the Mountain Golem, which could not be defeated unless its core was destroyed. She believed the Mountain Golem could defeat the boy.

In fact, when the Mountain Golem and the boy's group clashed once, the group had fled in a disgraceful defeat. As she had expected, the group was at a loss against the Mountain Golem and had no way to counter it.

But the boy took an unexpected countermeasure, and the plan went awry.

"Why is that she-dragon there?!"

Veevle, the tyrant dragon, or the ferocious dragon, as it was called, had allied with the boy's group.

In ancient times, it was one of the most feared dragons among those that wreaked havoc on monsters and the god of monsters. Its brutality and cruelty were indescribable, and it was said to eat the livers of living monsters. It was a terrifying dragon that had chilled the hearts of monsters from ancient times to the present.

Carmilla and her group had once tried to defeat Veevle, the tyrant dragon, to pass through the forest where it lived, as it was an obstacle to their goal.

However, Veevle escaped before they could fight it, and they lost track of it.

There had been a time in the past when it had cooperated with humans, but it had long since severed ties with humans and gone into seclusion in the forest. No one could have expected that it would re-emerge and ally with humans now.

This was just like the past.

The hateful gods, humans, and dragons working together to rebel against the god of monsters and the monsters.

If history repeated itself, the god of monsters and the monsters would be defeated, the god of monsters would be sealed, and the monsters would be pushed to the northern lands.

Carmilla bit her thumbnail in frustration. She no longer had the composure she once had. If history repeated itself, they would face a terrible future.

With Veevle's appearance, there was a possibility that other dragons and races were also cooperating with humans. This was no longer a problem that Carmilla alone could handle.

"I must strongly advise the master. We can't afford to be picky anymore. I hate it, but we have no choice but to get help from the others."

***

They managed to defeat the Mountain Golem.

But victory always comes at a cost.

The week spent leveling up and changing classes to prepare for the Mountain Golem had already ended the summer vacation. Of course, there was school on weekdays, so even with weekends and holidays, it wasn't enough, and I had to take a few days off. There was no one to borrow notes from to summarize the class content I missed. Even if there were, I wouldn't have had time to review.

As a result, this is what I have.

In my hand is a test paper. There are more crosses than circles.

I easily broke my personal worst record in the mid-term exam of the second semester, and the results are terrible. My ranking is probably in a bad state too.

I worked hard in the other world, but unfortunately, that effort is only appreciated by the people in the other world, not in this reality. There's no such thing as an "other world" section on the test.

I sighed deeply, looking at the test results again.

Sigh, I want to go back to the other world and meet everyone to forget about these unpleasant things.