Chapter 67: Beyond the Steel Body (02)
Chapter 67: Beyond the Steel Body (02)
Whoosh!
I blocked the second shot with my shield, feeling the heavy impact resonate through my arm, but by then I had almost caught up. Just as I was about to swing my mana saber at the combat golem's legs, it lifted its forelegs.
Click!
It quickly retracted its forelegs into its body, dodging my strike, but I had anticipated this and used my wooden shield to launch myself into the air.
Clang!
As I curled up with my shield in mid-air, the third volley of gunfire came at me.
This time, it wasn't the shield that took the hit but the armored shoulder part, and the force was so significant that I lost balance in the air and barely managed to land after a full spin.
Swoosh!
I landed on the ground, kicking up dust, and crouched down before the combat golem that was staining itself with its own flesh.
"Damn."
The wooden shield, already cracked from blocking two shots and the impact of my shield bash on the ground, was now completely tattered. It was no longer effective as a shield but merely a cumbersome object hanging on my arm, so I twisted my wrist, broke the shield handle, and shook it off my arm.
- Knight affiliated with the Magi Kingdom... not registered –
"Of course."
Being a trainee knight, it was obvious I wouldn't be registered in an enemy nation's database.
- Upon encountering a knight, the directive is... extermination... eliminate the knight by any means necessary –
"Ha, shouldn't it normally flee to preserve itself?"
- Exterminate, exterminate, exterminate. Flesh is weaker than steel –
Expecting that I would dodge or deflect close-range gunfire with my sword, the golem no longer attempted long-range attacks but began transforming its arm into a form resembling a great sword.
'Even if it's a great sword, it'll still be sliced by the mana saber... It's actually better for me if it comes closer.'
Perhaps thinking it easier to target my legs in its centaur form, the golem switched to its human form. Its red eyes cautiously watched me.
- Combat simulation against flesh... less than 3% chance of defeat –
That might be true for an average knight.
About ten years ago, knights deployed during a border dispute between our kingdom and the Sytorax Republic encountered similar exchange ratios with combat golems.
If they said the losses were equivalent, considering the time invested in training knights, it was a devastating loss for the kingdom.
However, not all in our kingdom are fools. We've developed counter-golem tactics and enhanced the output of mana sabers to slice through metal bodies in a single strike, so the outcome of a battle might be different now.
'Of course, Sytorax would have made improvements after their senior knights were slaughtered back then...!'
This was now a rematch of the border conflict from ten years ago.
Vroom!
I ducked the great sword aimed to cleave my head, moving in close and swinging my mana saber at the golem's legs.
However, it had anticipated this too and easily stepped back, dodging my strike.
Both of us had expected as much from each other, so the real test of tactics was just beginning.
While a great sword's reach is advantageous, its weight makes it difficult to switch quickly to defense, but since the golem's wrists bore no burden, it immediately reversed the blade aiming to strike my back, and I swiftly threw my mana saber, shifting to hand-to-hand combat.
Boom!
My gauntlet's metal back collided with the golem's body, sparking on impact.
Normally, a civilian wielding a hammer against metal would risk their wrist, but a knight could channel mana circuits to crush steel, making a direct hit effective.
Creak!
Though I swung with all my might, causing a bone in my wrist to break, something inside the golem also shattered.
Combat golems, known for their ability to bewilder opponents with their transforming abilities, have less durability than simple solid armor. If struck with sufficient force, their transformation functions degrade, leading to errors and drastically reduced combat effectiveness.
A golem that could intricately change from human to centaur form, from an arm to a gun barrel, then to a great sword, must have complex internal mechanisms. If I could breach its outer armor, its intricate transformation mechanism would surely malfunction.
Isn't there a saying in the knight orders?
The simpler a device, the more reliable it is; the more complex, the higher the chance of malfunction.
'Now, if I slash through its power source with my mana saber...!'
Swoosh-
But as I increased my mana saber's output, the golem staggered and backed off, losing its balance.
'Huh?'
Like magnets repelling each other, the golem was thrust backward by the force of my mana saber swing, struggling to regain its balance.
'Emergency evasion? If it's like this, somehow...'
I dashed forward, catching up to the golem and swung my mana saber again.
Slash!
'Does it dodge... or is it repelled?'
Just as I felt, the golem's body twisted forcibly, maintaining a precise distance from the trajectory of my mana saber.
"What is this...?"
Once might be coincidence, but twice is not; it's inevitable.
Even as I delivered third and fourth strikes, the golem, unable to regain balance, was not just dodging but seemingly being pushed away from each attack.
'Has it developed a technique to avoid the mana saber?'
Like a magnet attracting or repelling metal, regardless of its current state or balance, the golem was forcibly maintaining a distance from my mana saber.
'If it keeps running, there's a way!'
Against an evasive opponent, the tactic is to corner them. But in an open field without walls, the only way to restrict movement is to force them into a spot where they can't retreat.
Thump!
I tripped it, preventing further retreat, then inverted my mana saber and emitted the blade.
Unless it could burrow into the ground, it had no escape, and just when I thought I had it cornered...
Crack!
Incredibly, the golem transformed its body, opening a gap where my mana saber was aimed, splitting into small metal fragments to avoid the blade.
"What is this!"
I couldn't defeat it like this.
I could cut it faster than the combat golem's artificial intelligence could react with my sword skills, but if the flesh reacts on its own even without the AI's recognition, and even dodges by disassembling itself like this, then it was impossible to cut with a sword.
As I retreated before the combat golem could counterattack, all my previous offensives seemed pointless as the golem reformed its parts and regenerated its body, drawing its great sword again.
- Probability of defeat... less than 1%... Our technology cannot be blocked by such weak flesh. Even a high-temperature cutter that slices through metal is useless if it cannot make contact –
"So, you've made it sensitive enough to automatically dodge instead of blocking my mana saber?"
Even if a mana coating could block the mana saber, the heat would remain, so continuous strikes would eventually melt the armor and disable it, but completely dodging leaves almost no way to counter.
"Probability of defeat less than 1%, huh... But from what I've seen, your chances of winning seem even lower than that?"
- Flesh tires. But steel does not tire. Eventually, steel will prevail –
"Right... that could happen."
I turned off my mana saber and moved my hand behind to form a seal.
"If I were alone, that might be true."
- Flesh like yours cannot defeat our steel. Stop wasting effort and die embracing the superior steel. If you're lucky, you might be resurrected by our republic's artificial intelligence... –
"That would mean I couldn't enjoy pleasures anymore."
- Clinging to such insignificant flesh is meaningless. Pleasures are pointless; they only create waste. Obsessing over increasing the numbers of flesh only hastens its inevitable destruction –
"Well, I think it's good to increase in number, quite the opposite of you."
- Reaffirmed that communication with flesh-bound beings is futile, proceeding with disposal –
"Like this."
While I was distracting it, Dane was running towards me from behind.
Having already dealt with the spike-infested centaur bandits, he recognized my signal for support.
- Additional knight-grade hostile life form detected. Recalculating odds... Probability of defeat less than 6%... –
"I told you, the more, the better!"
Tatatatatata-!
The sound of galloping hooves thundered as Eileen charged in.
While the combat golem was focusing all its calculations on Dane and me, Eileen circled behind and charged, turning in front of the golem.
"Eileen, kick it!"
Boom!
Using the force of her artistically twisted equine lower half, Eileen delivered a powerful kick that sent the golem flying towards me.
- It does not cut –
"I know."
I let the combat golem pass over my head without slicing it with my mana saber, and it flew directly towards the mana shield Dane had formed.
Whoosh!
An invisible force pushed the golem's body to the other side of Dane's thick mana shield, slowing it down so it wouldn't hit the shield, using the recoil to bring the golem towards me.
Now was my chance.
Swoosh!
I briefly formed my mana saber and sliced from the golem's head down to its crotch.
The gash was made more profound by the stronger rebound from Dane's mana shield, and since it happened in a flash, the golem couldn't dodge properly, and I swiped horizontally across it.
Then I slashed diagonally up and then down again, watching the golem's body twist to avoid my mana saber as I exposed a glowing green core through a gap in the armor.
- Probability of defeat... 11%... 14%... –
Slash!
I decapitated it in one swift motion, whether it was the mana saber's doing or if it detached its head to dodge, it didn't matter.
My target was to remove the 'helmet.'
Thump, thud!
Stepping over the downed golem's body, I leapt into the air, twisting and allowing gravity to take over as I directed my mana saber downwards.
- Probability of defeat... 18%... –
As I increased the output of my mana saber, the golem's body melted away, and within about ten seconds, like the spikes dissolved by my mana saber earlier, its metallic body completely melted away, leaving only its heated core.
'Could my seniors have fought these monsters without any information on combat golems?'
Of course, back then, there wasn't the function to dodge a mana saber, but in exchange, our predecessors didn't have high-output mana sabers that could melt steel plates.
"Ha... Can it withstand the mana saber?"
Thump!
Just in case it could still move in this state, I kicked the rolling core away from the molten metal body.
Then I stomped on it and rolled it vigorously on the ground to cool it down.
'The core containing the combat golem's artificial intelligence and power... must be valuable?'
"Okay, we win..."
As I turned to Dane and the centaurs to declare our victory, they were looking behind me.
"What's going... oh...?"
Nearly ten combat golems, which Dane and Eileen had only just managed to defeat with a combined effort, were rushing towards us.
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