When we reached the Merisia Mountains, we tracked north along the range and brought the Hanging Garden to a stop directly above the Stea Mine. I looked down at the dig site, opened a [Gate], and we transferred to the ground. Cesca stayed up in the garden — house-sitter duty.
The moment we landed, the area was eerily silent — an unsettling stillness in the air.
“Is no one here?”
“Of course not — no one walks into a golem’s territory. They go out of their way to remove anyone who enters. If it senses us, it’ll come to us.”
While Yumina and Elze talked, I pulled up the map app and searched mithril golem. There it is. Moving slowly down the tunnel — coming this way, looks like.
“Cave-in risk in there, so having it come out is a relief. Slap [Slip] on it, watch it eat dirt forever?”
“That one was brutal, you know…”
“Truly — never want to taste it again…”
Kokuyō and Sango muttered, faces grim.
“But then how do you actually kill it? I doubt a golem will cry and beg forgiveness the way you two did.”
“What was that, hah!?”
“Kōhaku… you picking a fight with us?”
The three were about to start a brawl. I calmed them down and thought a moment.
Hmm — okay, [Slip]-and-fall does some damage, but actually finishing it that way is hard. With Sango and Kokuyō we had a sunset deadline forcing the trick. …
Hm — another method, then. I’d thought about this before. Let’s try it.
“Hold on, I need to prep — wait here.”
I told everyone and opened a [Gate] to Cesca up in the garden.
◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇
When I got back to the quarry, prepared, there was a thump, thump in the distance. Golem’s close.
“Where’d you go!? We don’t have time!”
“Sorry, took longer than I thought.”
I apologized to Elze and handed Linze and Yumina about 50 bullets each, enchanted with [Explosion]. To Yae — who couldn’t fight with the katana this time — I also handed a New Model Army loaded with the enchanted rounds.
If the plan works, they shouldn’t even need those — but you never know. Better safe.
Thump, thump — footsteps approaching. About to show. I glared at the big tunnel mouth. …This tunnel is huge though. Did the golem expand it as it dug? If so, the golem might be tunnel-height tall.
Wait. …Doesn’t this footstep pattern sound off? Like there’s a near one and a far one — two sources…?
“Here it comes, indeed!”
A silver body, sun-glinted, emerged from the tunnel mouth.
A rugged, rock-like form — but every surface had a metallic sheen — and the thing had to be six meters tall. Short legs, big long arms. A flat, featureless face with two black sunken holes where eyes would be. Inside them, an unsettling red glow — almost as if it were glaring at us.
“T-Touya-san — look!”
From the tunnel Yumina pointed at, a second golem lumbered into view. This one too radiated a brilliant silver gleam.
Two mithril golems. Of course. That’s why there were two sets of vibrations. Didn’t catch it on the map app earlier — they overlapped. …A pair? Couple of golems?
Mngh — if I’d zoomed in I’d have spotted them. …They’re not about to spawn a baby golem too, are they?
Unconcerned with my private worries, the golem lifted a nearby boulder and hurled it at us. Whoa, dangerous!
We scattered to dodge. The boulder slammed into the ground and shattered, fragments raining everywhere.
“Water, come — bursting bubble — Bubble Bomb.”
At Linze’s incantation, several soap-bubble spheres formed and drifted toward the golem. The moment they touched, a chain reaction triggered — DUDUDUDUDUM!! — a thunderclap of explosions.
A misty haze hung over the impact. Out of it, the golem stepped forward — apparently unhurt.
“Not working…?”
No — is this an elemental matchup thing? I think earth resists water?
Crack-crack-crack. Yumina rapid-fired the M1860 Army; the rounds struck the golem’s shoulder and detonated with [Explosion]. Still — not even a crack.
Damn. No way around it. Going to gamble on the idea.
“There’s something I want to try. Everyone, fall back.”
They gave me puzzled looks but quickly retreated. The golems came on straight at us — surprisingly quick on their feet for what they are. Yeah — mithril, so not balloon-light, but lighter than they look.
If it doesn’t work, it doesn’t.
“Accel!”
The accel spell threw me right up against the lead golem in an instant. I extended my hand toward the ground at its feet and triggered my finishing magic.
“Gate!”
A great gate of light bloomed flat against the ground — and the golems dropped straight through it like falling into water, vanishing into the earth. Yep — success.
“T-Touya-san!? What was that…?”
“Hm? Ah — I used [Gate] to teleport them. Turns out the portal works horizontally as well as vertically.”
I gave Yumina, who’d run over, a quick explanation. Thought it would work, but glad it actually did.
“You teleported them — where to, indeed?”
I laughed at Yae’s question and pointed straight up with my index finger.
“Directly overhead. Ten kilometers altitude.”
"""""Eh!?"""""
While everyone stood gaping, I checked the golem positions on the map app. Can’t see altitude, but yeah — drifting off from directly above. Air resistance, probably. Better than them landing right on top of us.
The only town nearby is the mining settlement south of here, and they’re not drifting that way. Should be fine.
I’d had Cesca take the garden up to 10,000 meters earlier to plant the exit. Though, thinking about it — 10,000 was probably overkill.
Falling objects hit terminal velocity once air resistance equals gravity, and height beyond that doesn’t matter. Terminal velocity — that’s the term?
Well — better safe than sorry. Let’s call it overkill on purpose.
Eventually a high-pitched keening whistle came from the west of the dig site, followed by two enormous impact-shocks. Impact. Didn’t fall straight down — drifted a fair bit.
I used [Accel] to sprint to the impact zone. Everyone, using the ring-enchanted [Accel], kept pace.
“Tch — still moving, huh.”
Inside a wide bowl-shaped crater, in a churning cloud of dust, the two golems — bodies covered in cracks — were trying with everything they had to stand. Less damage than I expected. Mithril really is that light?
“Water, come — bursting bubble — Bubble Bomb.”
Not letting that happen. Linze’s spell detonated against the near golem’s chest. The crack-covered body buckled; chunks of mithril clattered free from the chest. A dull silver orb glinted in the cavity. That’d be the central core.
“Accel Boost!”
Elze layered body-strengthening and acceleration, launched herself like an arrow, the wound-up gauntlet on her right hand glowing red with charge.
GA-KIIIIN!! — a heavy metal-on-metal crash. Part of the core shattered. The golem dropped backward, hit the ground with a thud, and didn’t move again.
Just past — crack-crack-crack-crack!! — gunshots, then BOOMBOOMBOOMBOOM!! of explosions. Yae was opening up on the other golem with my New Model Army.
Same as the first, the chest blew open; the core was exposed.
“Lightning, pierce — hundred-thunder spear — Lightning Javelin!”
Right on cue. Multiple bolts of lightning shot from Yumina’s palm and struck the core dead-on. Crack! The core split clean in two.
The second golem toppled backward, motionless.
Both completely silent. The area was full of dust and shattered mithril dust. Ah — I didn’t actually do anything at the end.
《Well fought.》
“I just opened the [Gate], honestly.”
Kōhaku had padded over; I answered her with a wry smile.
Elze took the partly-shattered core; Yae took the cleanly-split one. Volleyball-sized, dull silver — duller than the body itself.
“Got the kill-proof too. Job done.”
Elze smiled, holding the core up. Job is done, sure — but the bodies, and all this scattered mithril powder — that’d be a chore to collect by hand… No wait — if I use [Storage] to absorb just the mithril, I can grab everything. Let’s try.
“Storage: In — Mithril.”
The storage spell triggered, a magic circle bloomed on the ground, and the golem in front of me dropped straight through, vanishing. I checked the ground after — not a fragment of mithril left. Yep, that worked.
Same for the other body — into [Storage]. [Storage]‘s capacity scales with mana, so anyone but me would’ve struggled with bodies this size.
“All right — let’s head home.”
Guild report can wait till tomorrow. We’ve got the bodies; no rush.
I opened a [Gate] to the mansion garden — and there was Renee, doing bicycle practice with Cécile-san. She was in a shirt and suspenders with boyish trousers, not her usual maid uniform. Smudges everywhere from all the falls. Right — it’s Renee’s day off; Cécile-san’s helping her practice between her own work.
“Ah — welcome home, master.”
“I’m back, Cécile-san.”
Renee caught sight of us at Cécile-san’s voice, pedaled over, and braked smoothly to a stop in front of us. She can already ride? That’s faster than the Duke. Youth, I guess.
“Welcome home, Touya-nii-chan!”
“I’m back, Renee. You learned to ride?”
“Mm-hm!”
I patted her on the head — her face brightened up. Building it for her was the right call after all.
Right — soak in the bath, get the dirt and dust off. Renee can go in with the others. I’ll take mine after.
“Huh?”
As we were heading inside, Renee — still on the bike — tilted her head. What now?
“Where’s Cesca-nee-chan?”
"""""Ah."""""
…Crap. Forgot her.