I Became a Veteran Who Has to Stir Up Trouble to Survive - Chapter 25

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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[025] Cerulian Golem #2
As the stellar energy reached its zenith, a boss emerged from the Valley.
A crystal golem worthy of being the progenitor of the Cerulian Golems I’d faced thus far.
[Ancient Cerulian Golem]
“A formidable guardian of the Canyon and boss monster!! Exercise caution!!”
As the golem, draped in moss and stone, roared, the Canyon resonated with a deafening clang.
Its entire form radiated an eerie luminescence, and its two eyes emanated such overwhelming pressure that everything around them seemed destined to freeze.
As its immense presence blanketed the Canyon, everyone halted their movements and turned to face the Ancient Cerulian Golem.
Everyone, that is.
Except Doran.
‘Where are you…’
Now you’ll reveal yourself.
Doran lowered his stance, his sharp gaze sweeping across the Canyon.
His eyes tracked the Adventurers.
More precisely, the ‘Adventurer displaying a reaction unlike the others’.
Near the Canyon’s entrance, a party clad in distinctly unusual Magic Armor caught my attention.
The group that had slaughtered Cerulian Golems from the start, possessed an uncanny knowledge of the golems’ weaknesses, and had abruptly ceased hunting once the stellar energy reached full bloom in the Canyon.
“…Hey, Malton.”
“I’m listening.”
“You know lip-reading, right? Eavesdrop on those people’s conversation for me.”
“…How casually you speak. I never mentioned possessing such a skill.”
“So, can’t you do it?”
“…”
Malton grumbled and recited the conversation he’d spied through his telescope verbatim.
─He’s appeared. Let’s withdraw now.
─A rather formidable one has shown up—aren’t we hunting it?
─That boss isn’t one we can hunt. Our business in this Valley is finished. We’re withdrawing.
“…he says.”
“Thanks.”
That settled it.
‘Finally found you…!’
A transmigrator.
The leader of that party must be someone from Earth like me.
There’s no other way they could have immediately discerned the true nature of that golem.
‘But… even if they were a former Belheim user like me, few would know this much…’
Are they a high-ranker like me? If so, I might know them personally.
Momentarily, questions flooded my mind—how they’d become entangled in this world, how long they’d lived here, whether they’d also encountered the Goddess—but I had no choice but to set them aside.
A mage had unleashed a powerful flame spell against the boss golem.
Radi’s lips parted slightly as she witnessed a serpentine torrent of crimson flames, melting stone as it surged forward.
“Oh, with such power, even if magic resistance is extraordinarily high…”
“It’s useless.”
“Pardon?”
“If it were an ordinary golem, perhaps, but magic doesn’t work on that creature at all.”
Even if the mages of the Magic Tower unleashed spells in droves, it would barely make a difference.
Sure enough, the flame magic scattered harmlessly against the golem, dealing no damage whatsoever.
And it wasn’t just magic.
“What, what is this?! Blunt force doesn’t work on this golem!!”
“There has to be a weak point somewhere! Try targeting its abdomen like the other golems! Or the joints!!”
“N-no… Neither spells nor physical attacks are working!!”
“What in the—?! Ugh, argh!!”
As the golem swept across the earth, the upper bodies of the adventurers it caught tumbled across the canyon floor.
Witnessing this, Doran placed a hand on Radi’s shoulder and spoke.
“Kid, we’d be better off putting more distance between us.”
“Huh? But the golem is so far away already, so why….”
Before Radi could finish speaking, massive crystal shards materialized in the sky and rained down upon us.
I grabbed Hood by the collar and yanked her clear just in time. Her face had gone deathly pale as she murmured.
“Th-thank you….”
“Don’t let your guard down until the end.”
“Doran, that massive golem is blocking the canyon’s exit. Is there any way for us to escape safely?”
“No. If we try to flee now, we’ll draw its attention. Escape is impossible in this situation.”
“If we cannot flee… Ah! Then you must know a way to defeat that massive golem?!”
“What? How would I know that?”
Radi’s mouth fell open, her eyes wide with bewilderment, but I dismissed her concern lightly.
‘This is my first time facing a boss directly, after all.’
According to the records of the Advance Party, many expedition members survived the battle with the golem, but most were annihilated by the boss that appeared afterward.
In other words, this boss golem was a monster whose strategy remained unknown.
That’s likely why the Magic Armor Party, presumed to be reincarnators, retreated without hesitation.
“Why are you speaking so calmly?! We’re all going to die now!!”
“It’s fine. I don’t know the exact strategy, but I can make an educated guess.”
Belheim, for all its cruel irrationality, never presented truly unsolvable problems.
There were exceptions like the Incident of the Mary Celeste, but those were genuinely rare cases.
‘…The Ancient Selurian Golem was immune to magic and impervious to physical attacks.’
Yet even so, it was merely a monster that appeared on the first floor of a dungeon.
Typically, such enemies had an easy method to defeat them.
“What is this method you speak of?”
“I’ll deduce it from the clues we’ve gathered so far.”
There were several commonalities between the Selurian Golem and this boss golem.
1. It only appears during specific periods when a comet’s power grows stronger.
2. Its body is composed of transparent crystals that absorb magic.
3. As a golem, it requires a power source to operate its body.
“But how could such trivial things possibly reveal the weakness of that colossal golem?”
“Think about it carefully. Why would they suddenly awaken?”
“Well… if a golem that’s been dormant all this time has activated, that means power has been supplied to it… and if it only awakens during the season of the Blue Comet, then….”
“It moves using the comet’s energy as its power source! The semi-transparent crystalline body must be designed to absorb starlight efficiently.”
“The power source that moves them…! In other words, if we block the starlight, we can stop them from functioning!”
Radi cried out excitedly, but her shoulders soon drooped in dejection.
“But how can we block the light…? We can’t possibly strip away all those luminescent mosses glowing from the dungeon ceiling….”
“It’s fine. With a boss golem that massive, absorbing starlight through its body alone wouldn’t provide sufficient power. In other words, there must be a hidden core somewhere that transmits the energy.”
And since the creature would be in trouble if that core were destroyed, it wouldn’t have cast magic around it.
“I happened to see a crystal that was about to fall dissipate unnaturally… Ah! There it is!”
Where Doran pointed, a single ancient tree stood solitary and intact in the otherwise desolate valley.
Coincidentally, it was the very same tree from which Doran and Malton had hurled Radi upward before.
Not long after digging beneath the ancient tree, a blue radiance began seeping through the soil.
“The core really was hidden here! As they say, the darkest place is beneath the lamp….”
“Good, we’ve dug enough. I’m counting on you, Malton.”
“Leave it to me.”
Crack—!!
As Malton brought his mace down with tremendous force, the crystal mass shattered into fragments instantly.
Radi gazed down at the destroyed core with anticipation, then turned to observe the massive golem—only to furrow her brow immediately.
“Wait… the golem is still moving?”
“Of course. It won’t stop just because we destroyed one external core.”
“What?! That’s completely different from what you just said!! You absolute fool…!”
“Calm down. Even so, it should be significantly weakened. It won’t be able to cast those annoying spells anymore.”
And from here on, I can bring it down with my own strength.
Of course, not without utilizing my abilities somewhat.
As I declared this with confidence, Radi looked up at me with skepticism.
“You’re going to face it alone…? No matter how weakened it is, against such a powerful boss golem?”
“Yes. …Malton, could you hold onto my clothes for a moment?”
“Hmm… Don’t tell me you’re about to use that secret technique?”
“Yeah, last time my clothes got shredded. This time I’ll just take them off beforehand. But the problem is….”
As Doran and Malton turned around simultaneously to gauge the situation, Radi flinched and her shoulders trembled.
“Why, why…? What business do you have with me… Wait! Why are you suddenly taking off your clothes?!”
“Malton, do you happen to know any secrets about her?”
“Are you trying to find some weakness to silence her?”
“Yeah. What if she reports this to the Temple?”
“….”
Malton stroked his chin and marveled, “Hmm… truly, a follower of the Evil God thinks differently from the start….”
Doran, paying no mind to this, continued unfastening his belt and lowering his trousers.
‘Ah, but I still can’t let my black hair be discovered, so I should probably keep at least one robe on….’
Ding—!
“Equipment removed! You are now in a defenseless state! You have become extremely vulnerable to monster attacks!”
“Party member Radi witnesses your audacious act and gasps in shock! Due to the [Chaos] skill, your Strength temporarily increases by 3!”
“Agility temporarily increased by 2!”
“Luck temporarily increased by 1….”
‘…What is this?’
The stat increases emanating from the girl are far from ordinary.
For something as simple as removing clothes, the boost is absolutely staggering.
‘She’s making quite a fuss over this.’
Either way, this works in my favor.
Radi had been approaching to kick at my shins when she suddenly froze in horror and retreated.
“Thanks, kid.”
“What are you talking about?! You’re just a madman!”
“Don’t be like that. I have my reasons too.”
As I stretched and loosened my body, Malton burst into hearty laughter and murmured.
“I’ll explain things to Radi, so don’t worry and go on ahead. I’ll follow shortly to provide support.”
“Right, thanks.”
“Wait, stop laughing and explain the situation…!!”
Radi, who had been bristling at our incomprehensible exchange, suddenly went rigid.
In her blue eyes reflected a grotesque sight.
A human body engulfed in black mist, decomposing in an instant.
Skeletal joints extending from the darkness planted themselves firmly on the ground, and a sinister cutlass sliced through the fog.
A bleached jawbone rattled with laughter, and crimson light blazed forth from the hollow eye sockets.
A sight so unbelievable that even witnessing it with her own eyes, she could not comprehend.
As though a jester had toyed with her from head to toe.
“H-How is this even….”
“I wish you well.”
—Kahahaha! Thank you, Kanf, mortal!
Doran, now transformed into a skeletal warrior, laughed grotesquely and leaped into the darkness.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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