Chapter 165

Chapter 165

Sizzzz— sizzz—

For some reason, the movement of the holy power inside the golem was clearly visible to Roan.

In the game, even a character who was raised reasonably well could not peer into the inside from the beginning like this.

That meant…

Hum—

If you can’t see something that reveals itself so clearly, your talent would be a waste.

The False Divinity explained the reason.

Black mana confronting holy power.

Naturally, the more he faced massive holy power, the more sensitive Roan’s black mana became in return.

Moreover, what the golem harbored right now was,

‘clear hostility toward me.’

It was normal for humans to hide their energy, but no such treatment had been applied to the training golem.

Ultimately, if the golem’s holy power was clearly visible, Roan also had confidence.

‘It seems a talent stat of 100 makes even this possible.’

An unprecedented realm, the talent stat of 100.

The advantages it brought were truly endless.

Tight grip—

Roan put more force into the sword in his hand.

At least the black mana talent had never disappointed him so far.

‘Let’s do this!’

“Golem! Moving now!”

Just as Roan was about to dash vigorously toward the golem,

Vroooooom——!!!

“??!?!?!?!!??”

Roan had to turn and roll sideways with all his might.

Otherwise,

Kaboom——!!!!

he would have been the one lying on the ground, which was now cracked like a spiderweb.

…Roan clearly saw the giant fist brushing past his forehead at the last second.

—W-What on earth is that!!

—It’s the rebellion of Professor Alphard!!

—You fool, it’s not Professor Alphard, it’s just a golem!

The students who witnessed that shocking attack naturally fell into a frenzy.

They had thought Stage 1 would be somewhat manageable, but at this rate, wasn’t it some kind of combat monster?

“R-Roan is going to die!”

Demona slapped her cheeks with both hands, like a certain painting on Earth, and shrieked.

‘If only she couldn’t speak!’

Normally, Roan would have said something, but right now there was no time.

“Demona, shut up!”

“It’s because of you!”

“You should also prepare to die by my axe!”

“W-What did I do… You guys cheered too…”

Instead, the friends growled at Demona on his behalf.

Roan discarded his thought from a moment ago about it being manageable and returned to square one.

‘Was it originally that fast?’

He had faced the Stage 1 islander golem countless times.

However, it was much faster and stronger than what he knew.

Roan soon realized the reason.

‘…It’s because my other stats can’t back up my black magic talent stat.’

In short, while the holy power inside the golem was clearly and slowly visible, his stamina, agility, and physical strength required to face the golem head-on were significantly lacking.

If he were a third-year, his other stats would have naturally grown, but as a freshman, the gap was even more pronounced.

Roan glanced at Gulba.

Gulba stood with his arms crossed, showing no intention of taking any action.

‘At the very least, Gulba believes I have a chance of winning.’

Though he looked simple and stupid, Gulba was a master of combat.

An instinctive judgment, or confidence, that Roan could sufficiently take down a Stage 1 golem.

Specifically, the ‘full-strength’ Roan.

‘I can’t unleash offensive magic, but… a black mage has a black mage’s own way.’

If the professor thought so, Roan also had a way to respond.

During a brief lull, Roan thought of a black magic suitable for this situation.

Normally, honorable clergymen only used methods to reinforce their own strength in such duels.

But black mages were different.

‘The Underhanded Duelist’s Secret Art.’

As Roan cast a basic black magic, black mana that arose very covertly and subtly seeped into the sword.

Unless one watched very closely, they wouldn’t even know Roan had used some trick.

Tap—

Afterward, Roan immediately lunged at the golem.

Although the golem was faster and more powerful than expected,

‘straightforward attacks on the level of Stage 1 can be dodged if anticipated!’

Whoosh— crash—!

As long as he knew the timing, rolling was enough.

Furthermore, because the holy power inside the golem was clearly visible to Roan, it was barely possible.

“Roan dodged again!”

“Amazing…!”

“Dark, you can do it!”

The friends cheered at the instinctive intuition that Roan had found some way.

Roan got back up beside the golem, which had not yet retracted its fist.

The weak point he could target right away was,

‘its arm joint!’

Roan swung the sword in his hand with all his might.

The students held their breath, sweating, as they cheered for Roan’s strike.

A boy who was not very large and a giant golem.

For it was like watching the tale of David and Goliath, if compared to Earth.

But the moment the sword and the arm joint collided,

Clang—!

—…?

—What is it?

—Is that really Dark?

The students were somewhat disappointed by the sound, which was too weak compared to their expectations.

It was truly a sound like tapping a rock with chopsticks.

“Boo! Gulba! Told us to break unbroken golem!”

“Boo! Too much! Stop golem right now!”

Demona and Hektor teamed up to protest to Gulba.

Their hearts grew anxious at the thought that Roan might struggle for the first time.

But unlike usual, Gulba replied with an extremely cold and serious expression,

“Wait.”

“Uuu…”

“Gulba is scary…”

Demona and Hektor were completely intimidated by Gulba, who didn’t even cast a glance at them.

They felt that if they provoked him further, they might end up fighting the real Gulba instead of the golem.

Meanwhile, Roan…

‘The effect is decent in its own way.’

He was reasonably satisfied despite having made an attack that disappointed both his friends and the students.

The basic black magic Roan had used, Underhanded Duelist’s Secret Art.

It was a despicable spell that stealthily channeled one’s mana into the opponent’s pathways to disrupt the interior.

If it were against a person, there would be quite a few things to be careful of.

Because it was covert, the mana consumption was severe, and a qualitative advantage sufficient to completely overwhelm the opponent’s mana or holy power was required.

‘What can they do about the mana I drew from Harden’s secret vault?’

Of course, Roan was mostly free from such weaknesses.

His mana, which was originally outstanding, had been purity itself since he drew it from Harden’s vault.

Furthermore, the opponent was a golem, not a human.

‘I wanted to avoid using such underhanded methods if possible, but whatever, it’s just a golem.’

If he had used it on a human, he deserved to be condemned as underhanded, but he didn’t have to worry about that now.

Crucially, that islander golem was too powerful for Roan to fight fair and square right now.

If the world acted underhanded, he had no choice but to become just as underhanded!

…Roan was rationalizing it as such.

Anyway.

Clang— crash—! Clang— crash—!

Roan diligently rolled on the ground to dodge the golem’s fists, yet struck the weak points accurately with his sword.

“What to do… at this rate, Roan will eventually grow exhausted.”

“Dies if hit.”

“Riel! You shouldn’t say such things, no matter what!”

“Sorry…”

Having no way of knowing Roan’s intention, the friends and students grew increasingly worried.

—Dark is going to die!

—At this rate, he will just get seriously hurt!

…Their worries grew.

‘Are those bastards really clergyman candidates?’

Even Roan, who was fiercely evading the golem’s attacks, almost lost his strength momentarily.

Still, thanks to landing a few strikes, Roan’s objective was being achieved faster than expected.

Sizzzz— whoosh— sizzzzz—

“Uh…? But don’t you think the golem is gradually slowing down?”

“C-Could there have been a time limit?”

Hektor also nodded in agreement with Sion’s observation.

Indeed, the golem’s movements had become noticeably sluggish compared to the beginning.

Furthermore, the steam it emitted was somewhat weak, not very lively.

Although it was only visible to Roan, the golem’s interior was currently in a terrible state.

The spots that collided with Roan’s sword were all encroached by black mana.

Moreover, Roan’s mana was even invading the drive unit, which could be called the core of the golem.

It was amazing that it was holding out even that much.

‘That is also at an end now.’

Roan targeted the last weak point, which was losing strength and faltering.

Tap— whoosh—

As Roan approached, the golem instinctively swung its fist, but it was now slow enough to dodge without even rolling.

Roan, practically digging himself completely into the golem’s embrace, thrust his sword into its shoulder joint.

Stab—

“Huh?”

“Huh?”

A sound different from before.

At the moment the friends and students opened their eyes wide,

Thud—

The golem’s arm, pierced by the sword, lost all strength and fell off.

The metal arm rolled on the training ground floor with a loud sound.

At the same time,

Hiss——

The golem’s drive also stopped completely.

Roan had won against the Stage 1 islander golem.

“W… Woooah!!!”

“Roan won!”

Hektor and Demona cheered, raising both arms high.

—Wooooah!!

—Dark defeated Professor Gulba!

—I told you it’s Professor Alphard!

—Oops!

—No, it’s not Professor Alphard either!!!

—…Then what is it?!

‘I said it’s just a training golem…’

The other students also shouted wildly and enthusiastically, as if they had never cursed Roan.

“Tsk… I won after all.”

However, Roan only stared silently at the stopped golem with an expression of dissatisfaction.

—L-Look at Dark’s expression…

—Is he not satisfied with just a Stage 1 golem?

The students interpreted Roan’s mind as they pleased, but

‘Losing safely would have been the best.’

Roan was actually thinking the exact opposite.

For if he destroyed the golem so splendidly like this,

Clap clap clap clap clap——!!!

“Dark splendid! As expected, real warrior!”

it was because Gulba was satisfied like that.

No, it would be fortunate if he was only satisfied.

‘The problem is that he will make me do even more absurd things next time.’

Looking at Gulba’s innocent expression, he was already worried about next week.

Might he bring a graduation exam task at this rate?

‘…Is it actually better if I graduate early like that?’

Of course, there was no concept of early graduation in Akerandir, so it was only Roan’s delusion.

Even if there was, it didn’t seem like Harden would let him go easily.

Gulba stopped clapping and said to the students,

“Students! If do not want to fight golem, lift barbells hard!”

—Huuugh!!!

—N-No, I don’t want that!

The students began to grip the barbells and groan more diligently than ever before.

Of course, a sweet reward was given to Roan.

“Dark can rest! If do well, rest!”

—They say Dark gets to rest now…

—Well, since he even defeated the golem…

The students glanced with envious eyes at Roan, who went to sit in the corner of the training ground.

‘At this rate, instead of resting, he should excuse me from the midterm exams…’

Though it was not to Roan’s liking at all.

But just as Roan sat down, Demona called Gulba.

“Professor, that golem is a bit strange?”

“Wicronon! You were speaking well, and now you suddenly speak difficultly! Speak like you normally do!”

“…Anyway. Take a look at that.”

Gulba and Roan simultaneously looked at the golem that had lost its arm.

Grasping the situation at a glance, Roan opened his eyes wide.

‘W-What’s wrong with that?’

Hiss…