Golems were born when magic ore fused with another substance or living creature and underwent a mutation.
‘Was it the 5th floor?’
In the Magic Tower, they could be artificially created in the Golem Crafting Workshop.
‘Seeing one again after so long makes me nostalgic.’
In my previous life, when I lived isolated from society inside the Magic Tower, Golems were my only companions to talk to.
Of course, I was the only one doing the talking.
At the same time, they were useful beings that handled troublesome work for me.
I faced the massive Golem, large enough to make the ground shake.
‘Compared to the ones I made, this thing is pathetically low-level. According to the Golem grading chart in the Magic Tower, it would be around the lowest grade.’
Still, a Golem was a Golem.
Even if Yulian and I fought with our lives on the line, there was no guarantee that two people at my current level could defeat it.
‘If I didn’t know everything there was to know about Golems, that is.’
Yulian’s face was filled with concern, but he spoke calmly.
“What should I do?”
I had seen all manner of horrors in my previous life, but it was impressive that Yulian didn’t even tremble with a Golem over three meters tall standing before him.
“Then hold it off for a little while so I can prepare my magic. I only need ten seconds.”
“Ten seconds…… Take your time. I can hold out for several minutes if I have to.”
“Don’t block the Golem’s fists head-on. Deflect them and let the force slide past you. Otherwise, your sword won’t withstand it.”
“That’s easier said than done. Still, I’ll remember―!”
Yulian shouted the final words like a battle cry, then charged forward and swung his sword at the Golem.
Attacking first wasn’t a bad decision.
The one advantage Yulian had over the Golem was speed.
But without enough strength behind it, that advantage was meaningless.
CRASH!
Despite the heavy impact, the Golem remained perfectly intact.
Yulian let out a hollow laugh.
“You’ve got to be kidding me.”
Then the Golem’s fist came straight down from above.
Yulian twisted his sword and deflected the attack.
The Golem’s fist slammed directly into the ground.
CRASH―!
‘He’s managing to dodge somehow.’
As I watched Yulian fight, I immediately organized my spell formulas.
I intended to use two spells simultaneously.
Water and ice.
It was a method I had often used when disposing of Golems in the Magic Tower.
After deflecting several attacks, Yulian shouted urgently,“Lord Lumio, I think ten seconds have passed!”
“You said you could last several minutes.”
Every time he deflected the Golem’s fists, the ground shook, making it difficult for Yulian to keep his balance.
Eventually, his foot twisted and he fell.
The Golem loomed majestically over him.
“……I don’t think I can.”
Unlike the horrified Yulian, I raised the corners of my mouth and stretched my hand toward the Golem.
A magic circle formed before my palm.
2nd Circle spell Water Ball(Water Ball).
A basic offensive spell for mages.
A sphere of water formed from the magic circle, flew toward the Golem, and struck it.
Its outer shell was tough enough that even a sword couldn’t break it.
A mere ball of water could never destroy it.
Apparently believing it was over, Yulian squeezed his eyes shut.
At that moment, another spell shot from my hand.
2nd Circle spell Freeze(Freeze).
This was also a simple freezing spell.
It was nowhere near powerful enough to freeze an entire Golem.
But the story changed if I froze the water that had seeped inside its body.
CRACK.
A low-grade Golem like this had plenty of cracks throughout its body.
Striking it from the outside might fail to cause damage, but attacking it from within was another matter entirely.
The water turned to ice and expanded.
The Golem’s body twisted, and suddenly its right arm and left leg dropped off.
That wasn’t all.
Ice jammed its joints, preventing it from moving properly.
Yulian stared blankly at the sight, looking as though he had no idea what was happening.
“I’ll leave the finish to you. Hit the gap where its head meets its neck. You should be able to break it there.”
Yulian immediately moved as I instructed.
The Golem’s neck, which hadn’t budged no matter how hard he struck it before, was cleanly severed and rolled across the floor.
“……Did we just kill a Golem?”
“As you can see.”
“That’s not something you can say so casually! It takes more than ten knights just to barely bring down a Golem!”
“This isn’t the time to be impressed.”
I spoke coldly.
We couldn’t relax yet.
After making that much noise, there was no chance all the monsters outside had simply stayed put.
Dozens of pairs of red eyes shone brightly from the dark entrance.
It would have been one thing if they had never noticed us in the first place, but after being discovered like this, 2nd Circle concealment magic would no longer work.
“We’re breaking through. When I give the signal, take the lead.”
Intense magical power surged into my hand.
A moment later, wind sharp as blades instantly severed the necks of three Garms drooling in front of us.
2nd Circle spell Wind Cutter(Wind Cutter).
“Run!”
Yulian burst forward with the wind, severing another Garm’s neck as he advanced.
***
“Lord Lumio, that isn’t the way back to the territory!”
It was late afternoon, and the sun was setting.
After using Wind Cutter five or six times, Yulian and I managed to escape the mine.
As night approached, even more monsters were lined up outside than when we had arrived.
Even considering that Garms moved in packs, it was rare to see this many gathered together.
“I know. Breaking through them head-on is impossible anyway.”
There was only one situation that caused monsters to behave this strangely.
A change in the ecosystem.
It meant there was something nearby that they feared.
And as far as I knew, only one person in this area could cause that.
‘……The Ice Witch. I was planning to go see her anyway.’
“Where are we going?”
“Kardum.”
Kardum was a Dwarf village near this mine.
They were a minority people who belonged to no nation.
At this point in time, it was also where the Ice Witch lived.
“I heard Dwarves have terrible tempers. Will they really help us?”
“They’re prickly, but they’re not that bad.”
“Do you know where the village is? I’ve only heard stories about it…….”
I nodded.
Then Yulian knew exactly what he needed to do.
“Lead the way. I’ll cover the rear!”
Yulian grabbed a Garm by the neck as it lunged forward with drool spilling from its maw, then sliced through it with his sword.
Blood sprayed everywhere.
We continued running, overcoming danger after danger in the same manner.
By the time the sun had completely set, the Garms finally stopped chasing us.
The Dwarf village had come into view.
The village itself had been carved into the mountain, with chimneys visible here and there between the snow-covered slopes.
“That’s strange. Why aren’t they following us this far?”
“They’re instinctively afraid.”
His expression seemed to ask, Afraid of what?
Before he could voice the question, a massive stone gate opened.
“What brings humans here?”
The figure before us was only about as tall as my navel.
His beard was thick enough to reach his waist, and his face was covered in wrinkles.
I bowed my head politely.
“My name is Lumio, son of the lord of the northern territory of the Rostelzier Kingdom. We heard there was a mine nearby and stopped to investigate, but we were attacked by monsters and sought refuge here.”
“I’m Aleph, the village chief of Kardum. I rushed over because the ground suddenly started shaking, only to find out you bastards dragged them here. What would you have done if you’d put our village in danger?”
Naturally, Aleph had no reason to welcome us.
He must have seen us as reckless outsiders who had nearly endangered his village.
However, I knew their circumstances.
“Those low-grade monsters would never attack Kardum, would they?”
“Idiot. Monsters will charge into anything if they get hungry enough. Then again, I suppose you wouldn’t know even that much if only the two of you came all the way to such a dangerous place.”
“No. I know very well how dangerous monsters are. We live in the North too.”
After correcting Aleph’s misunderstanding, I got to the point.
“The reason I believed the monsters wouldn’t attack is because ‘she’ is here.”
I emphasized the word ‘she.’
Aleph’s eyebrows rose.
“How do you know about her?”
“I don’t merely know about her. I can help her.”
“What?”
“I mean I can suppress the power she possesses.”
This was a gamble.
Breaking the Ice Witch’s curse.
I had no idea how the Dwarves would react to that.
But the Ice Witch, who had once been my companion, had treasured this village.
I could only hope they felt the same way about her.
“Come inside.”
See?
They really weren’t such bad people.
The inside of the village was a magnificent sight.
Even though the sun had set, flames blazing from more than ten smithies illuminated the entire area.
The Dwarves swung hammers with thick arms, pounding away at axes, swords, armor, and more.
“Why did you go to the mine?”
“I need things like gold, iron, and magic ore.”
“You’re this scrawny and you expect to mine anything?”
Aleph pressed repeatedly against my arm.
“What use is a man this skinny?”
“We were already on our way back empty-handed. If possible, I’d like to buy the materials here instead.”
“Gold and iron are one thing, but magic ore is impossible. We haven’t been able to enter the mine for more than half a year, so we don’t have any in stock. You saw how many monsters were out there yourselves.”
“If I solve that problem, can you mine it for us?”
Most Dwarves were miners or blacksmiths.
They would surely have a way to extract ore that we couldn’t.
“If you solve it, I’ll mine as much as you want. But how exactly do you intend to break the curse?”
Aleph glanced sideways at me.
The Ice Witch was one person’s epithet.
She had earned that name because of her power.
The power to endlessly freeze everything around her with cold.
But she couldn’t control it.
If it ran wild, it became a calamity powerful enough to erase the entire village.
“If you’re thinking about killing her, forget it. If we were willing to accept that kind of solution, we would’ve done it long ago.”
“You care about her quite a lot. She isn’t even a Dwarf, is she?”
“I took her in when she was young and raised her like my own daughter. It wasn’t this bad before she became an adult…….”
“Don’t worry. That isn’t the method I have in mind.”
I couldn’t kill her anyway.
If her power ran wild because of a mistake, the village and all of us would be wiped out together.
Aleph led us toward the farthest corner of the village.
No one seemed to live around this area.
Far in the distance stood a lone, small cabin, with a sign marking the limit of how close anyone was allowed to approach.
Aleph stopped in front of the sign.
“It’s dangerous beyond this point. Can you truly help her?”
“Wait here. I’ll go check her condition.”
“Did you even hear what I just said? I told you it’s dangerous if you go any farther!”
Ignoring him, I slowly walked forward.
It was only possible because I had gained Cold Resistance upon reaching the 2nd Circle.
When I was about halfway there, ice climbed up from the ground and wrapped around my feet.
At the same time, the door opened.
Snow-white hair came into view.
“Get out of my territory.”
“……Still prickly as ever.”
The Ice Witch.
No.
Arisa.
My former companion who had wandered the world with me before I entered the Magic Tower, only to die a miserable death.