112 – Man in Golden – 2

“It is a wood golem, Jun-nim! It would have cost thousands of gold coins to create that through alchemy! No, with a size like that, it would easily exceed ten thousand!”

As if to prove she was indeed a merchant, Viv was in the middle of explaining the enemy’s value by converting it into gold coins.

A combination robot—no, a massive wood golem, born from hundreds and thousands of trees woven together, slammed the earth with its house-sized fists and roared!

―Guuuuaaaooooh!

Did the dryad only come to her senses after more than thirty percent of the forest was blown away?

Perhaps having realized that she would not be safe if she faced Patum’s extraordinary ability head-on, she gathered all the power of the dead forest to create her own great warrior.

As great force was applied to the unstable earth where trees were completely uprooted, places collapsed, cracked like spiderwebs, and caused a minor earthquake.

“Absurd. It is shocking enough that a corrupted dryad still wields the power of trees, but to go beyond that and reshape the entire forest to her will!”

For Gi-jun, who was encountering a dryad for the very first time, he could only admire the wood golem vaguely as he looked at it, but Lectus grew visibly tense and raised his mana.

The mana that bloomed over his hand seemed to form a complex pattern and take three-dimensional shape, only to lose its form and scatter in the next moment.

“Even searching is impossible. We have no choice but to defeat that golem.”

“I will help.”

“—No.”

However, it was at that moment when Lectus and Gi-jun were about to step forward.

Patum, who had already coated his greatsword in golden flames, rejected them in a firm voice.

“I promised to show you my strength. Watch from there.”

Gi-jun wondered if he really needed to go that far, but Patum’s attitude was resolute.

―Kuuuaaaaak!

As if the golem also recognized who the strongest person here was, it focused only on him, and soon the two massive forces collided, shaking the entire area!

―Boom!

The fist swung by the golem, which was easily over dozens of meters tall, collided with the greatsword imbued with aura.

Even as its wooden fist burned and exploded grandly, it spread its crushed palm in an attempt to grab the greatsword and cling to Patum, but it was to no avail.

“Ha—!”

Bending his knees as if there were a foothold in midair, Patum leaped again and thrust his greatsword, aiming for the monster’s head!

Surprisingly, it was caught by dozens of thick tree branches that suddenly surged from various parts of the golem’s torso, and in the next moment, they burned helplessly in the flames transferred from the greatsword.

“This is nothing!”

―Kuaaaaak!

Erupting a massive flame, Patum began to push back the golem in earnest.

The greatsword dug into various parts of the screaming and rampaging golem’s torso, hindering its movements.

Moving nimbly despite his size and continuously delivering heavy blows, Patum looked as if he were dancing, using the golem’s entire body as his foothold.

―Crrrack!

Judging by the mana and intimidation radiating from the golem, its strength would be high-tier Unique at the very least.

It was mind-boggling to see a giant that could easily destroy even a castle wall blocked by a single person and unable to move properly.

“Do you see, Jun? That is the power of a hero. Those who create miracles alone and stand against the darkness…”

Lectus praised Patum in a voice mixed with excitement and frustration.

He did not finish his sentence, but the way he glanced at Gi-jun’s profile suggested that he, too, guessed the reason why Patum insisted on accompanying Gi-jun.

‘Is he trying to ask if I can catch up to Patum?’

Gi-jun had already noticed that Lectus’s feelings toward Patum were complicated.

Since such a Patum took a liking to Gi-jun and wanted to test him, how could Lectus not be concerned?

‘Even as the Crown Prince of a nation, this guy is really going through a lot of heartache.’

However, although Gi-jun could not give a definitive answer right now on whether he could surpass Patum in combat power, he was confident that his capabilities as a hero had already surpassed him.

―I found her, Contractor. It seems she was trying to ambush us while the hero was tied up with the golem?

‘Well done, Lucy!’

Before he knew it, the capable tracker Lucy had located the dryad!

The next step was, of course, the same as usual.

“Ur!”

―Kiiiiit!

A black root had been creeping stealthily through the earth while the hero and the giant collided.

The tip of the root, which was approaching while aiming for the party’s feet, seemed to flare up brightly for a moment, and then the blooming flames traced back the root, running across the ground and drawing a brilliant red trajectory.

Ur’s flames, which had become much stronger and faster upon reaching Unique-grade, reached the source of the dark mana in an instant and caused an explosion!

―Kyaaaaaak!

―Giiiiik!

Immediately after the dryad’s eerie and desperate scream echoed.

The body of the wood golem, which was stepping toward Patum, froze for an instant.

This was because the dryad controlling it had taken a hit, disrupting the mana that composed the creature.

“—Haaap!”

The experienced hero, Patum, did not miss that gap and stomped hard on the ground while swinging his greatsword.

Along the trajectory of the greatsword that scraped the earth and sparked flames as it soared vertically, a straight line of golden aura connecting the ground and the sky was drawn.

As the party silently admired the mighty power truly worthy of the name of a hero, such as the blow that had burned the forest,

―Boom, crash!

The golem, split in two along the line drawn by the aura, tumbled to the ground with a loud crash.

The black mist rising from the cut surface collided with the golden flames that still remained and exerted power, fizzing and sparking, forming a harmful fog in the area.

Gi-jun, who had secretly been cheering for the monster because of its too-rapid exit compared to its grand entrance, could not help but shake his head.

“To collapse so helplessly.”

“It is partly because Patum’s aura is powerful, but also because he exploited the gap when the bond of the wood composing the golem weakened. But why did it suddenly weaken?”

Lectus succeeded in seeing through the battle of that brief moment, but it seemed he did not notice the battle that took place elsewhere in the meantime.

However, Patum was different.

“As expected.”

After confirming that the golem had fallen and ceased to move, he turned to Gi-jun, nodded as if he had known it all along, and cast his gaze elsewhere.

Lectus, who turned his head in the direction of Patum’s gaze, was only then able to see the dryad writhing and wailing in pain on the ground.

“Did you find her in the meantime, Jun?”

“It is my specialty.”

Replying calmly to Lectus, who asked in shock, Gi-jun walked toward the dryad.

Patum, seemingly satisfied with showing off his strength by defeating the golem, had a much more relaxed expression,

“Since the source of her strength was severed and she was even burned by the fire that purges darkness, she must already be like a corpse.”

He said, catching up to Gi-jun’s side.

“However, I worry whether we will be able to find the cause of the corruption.”

“She is not dead yet.”

Upon reaching the dryad, Gi-jun instructed Ur to extinguish the flames.

What remained there was a woman of small stature—not only was the body of the tree fairy, which must have been beautiful originally, burnt, but it was also extremely hideous, with black stains as if eaten away by mold in places.

―Kyah, kyahaaaak!

The dryad, having lost most of the power she gathered to Patum and with her main body targeted, leaving her only to die, howled like a beast at the humans as if she had not lost her malice.

Patum reached out to the fairy, roughly feeling her entire body as if looking for something—but in the end, he frowned, stepped back, and shook his head.

“I feel traces of evil black magic distorting her source, but that is all. It would have been nice if she were an individual we could communicate with…”

―Kyhaaaak!

Seeing how she did nothing but howl like a beast even when she was about to die, it did not seem like communication was possible.

Patum shrugged his shoulders and raised his greatsword.

“Whoever did this would not have stopped here. Let us dispose of this and look for more similar incidents.”

*Slash.*

Having struck down the dryad’s neck without hesitation, Patum checked that his armor and greatsword were soaked in the black blood spurting from the severed neck, and calmly flared up his aura to evaporate it.

Gi-jun stared at the fairy’s head rolling on the ground, at the face with its mouth wide open, screaming even though it could no longer make a sound.

In the next moment, something black emerged from the air and swallowed it whole.

“?!”

“What is it, Jun?”

At Gi-jun’s flinch, Lectus also tensed up his body and asked.

Patum was already mounting the wyvern, preparing to leave this place.

Blinking his eyes, Gi-jun spoke.

“Did you not see that just now?”

“See what? The dryad is dead, and now everything is disappearing.”

Checking again after hearing those words, not only the head but also the dryad’s rotten body was already dissolving and disappearing into the air.

Just as Gi-jun nodded in understanding, wondering if it had simply dissolved after losing its mana,

―Fufu.

The spine-chilling laughter of the evil spirit struck his eardrums.

‘…Evil spirit, is that you?’

―Fufu…

Gi-jun loaded a barrage of curses to fire at the evil spirit, who had spoken so fluently when pretending to find peace before but now seemed to have no intention of letting him hear anything other than laughter.

—Click

“As of today, your name is 4885, you son of a…!”

―Frankenstein Jr.

The evil spirit quietly whispered in a creepy yet sweet voice.

―Find him. That was the most intense thought remaining in the dryad’s mind… fufu.

Gi-jun took out the magazine of the curses he had loaded with so much effort and threw it away.

As expected of an evil spirit, not content with devouring souls, she even read memories.

It seemed he needed to talk to her a bit more.

―Uaaaargh! Contractor, she started talking! How annoying! I want to erase her!

―Kiet, kieeeet!

Lucy and Ur, who had complained before when she only laughed, now disliked her even more now that she was speaking.

Gi-jun comforted them and attempted to strike up a conversation by handing over some of his spiritual power to the evil spirit.

‘Can you tell me in more detail?’

―I think I know a few locations where test subjects like this poor dryad are.

‘That is enough. I will guide the party in that direction, so if you find out any more information there, I would like you to tell me.’

―Fufu… I am glad to be of help.

Although that laughter was still creepy, he could tolerate this much if he could just grasp the main thread of the investigation into the corrupted dryads.

Furthermore, since the clue to the incident was none other than Frankenstein Jr., just looking at the name already gave him a premonition of a massive quest!

“Both of you, wait a moment.”

“What is it?”

“Did you find something?”

At Gi-jun’s voice that drifted in just as the wyvern was about to spread its wings, Patum and Lectus turned to look at him simultaneously.

Patum wore an expectant expression, while Lectus, on the contrary, looked a bit anxious.

“I have a bit of a hunch. By any chance, do you have any place in mind to go next?”

“There are a few candidate sites. Gratia is vast, and the active darkness is persistent… I can show you the candidate list.”

“Let me check it for a moment.”

From the candidates Lectus presented, Gi-jun selected a few places pointed out by the evil spirit.

“I cannot be certain, but how about we check these places first?”

“Hmm—they are indeed not far from here. It seems we will not lose any time.”

“Hmm.”

Patum, who checked the locations Gi-jun had pointed out one by one, shone his eyes again.

“If your prediction is correct…”

He raised his head to face Gi-jun.

Even though he could not check his face properly because Gi-jun was wearing a mask, Patum asserted, his vertically slit lizard-like pupils flashing sharply as if trying to pierce through it:

“That should be called the talent of a hero.”

It seemed the examiner was pleased with the results of the first exam.

Gi-jun mounted Fortis, trying to ignore Lectus, who was casting a gaze filled with jealousy and envy at him.

That afternoon, after roaming through three forests, streams, and private houses, and beating up additional corrupted dryads, naiads, and tsukumogami,

the hero’s party finally succeeded in grasping a clue heading to the laboratory of the source that corrupted them—Frankenstein Jr.