“Haaahhh!”
Yofune-san let out a cry as she swung her sword horizontally.
However, her sword couldn’t cut through the golem’s body and was deflected.
The golem’s body was literally like rock.
I couldn’t imagine anyone slicing through that with a sword.
“Ishiguro-san, I’m going to use my Mark. Please buy me about a minute.”
Yofune-san said that, moved a bit away from the golem, and closed her eyes.
She must have known full well that if the golem attacked her now, she’d die.
It seemed she trusted me to handle it for this short time.
“Then I guess I have to live up to that trust.”
I muttered under my breath and began to hold the golem at bay.
The golem slowly turned toward the defenseless Yofune-san, so I slashed at its unguarded back to stop it.
Though I couldn’t even leave a scratch, I succeeded in drawing its attention to me.
“Graaaargh!”
The golem turned around and swung its fist.
I couldn’t dodge in time and had to block with my naginata, but the impact sent me flying several meters.
“…I think I heard something crack.”
My ribs throbbed painfully.
I couldn’t move properly anymore.
Even the naginata I used as a shield now bore a clear imprint of the golem’s fist.
“Well, this is useless now.”
The slime spear hidden within the naginata was still intact, so I took it out and tried to throw it. But as I bent my body like a bow, the pain in my ribs made it impossible to aim properly, and the spear weakly flew through the air.
But that was fine.
The slime spear, now airborne, adjusted its tip as if being controlled and shot toward the golem.
The startled golem raised its arms defensively, but the spear pierced through and created a hole in its body.
The slime spear seemed to work well against the golem, unlike the sword, allowing the attack to connect easily.
However, when I tried to lift the slime spear off the ground again, it wouldn’t budge.
It seemed I could only control its tip direction and give it a bit of propulsion.
I resigned myself to the idea that the slime spear was a one-time-use weapon.
While the golem was frozen in place, I drank a potion Yofune-san had given me for emergencies.
The pain slowly began to subside.
“This stuff’s expensive…”
I grumbled as the golem began running toward me again.
Its massive body shook as it charged.
The hole in its body had already healed completely.
It seemed to regenerate over time.
But that was fine.
“I’ve got plenty of backups.”
I threw the magic stones I had in my pocket into the air.
Using their magic power, I created slime spears.
This time, six of them.
Since one slime spear used four magic stones, I had spent 24 stones in total.
“You’re costing me a fortune here.”
I aligned the tips of the floating slime spears toward the golem and launched them.
Perhaps having learned from the earlier attack, the golem exaggeratedly dodged.
However, its massive body had little room to maneuver here, causing it to crash into the walls.
Even after missing, the slime spears curved back toward the golem.
Though two of them hit the wall and became uncontrollable, four managed to pierce the golem’s body, creating new holes.
“Graaaaaarghhh!!!”
The golem roared in rage, showing no signs of freezing up like before.
It charged at me with its giant body, stomping heavily.
“Get down!”
I obeyed the voice and crouched.
The golem was already right in front of me, but I didn’t care.
“Slash!”
With those words, the golem’s body split horizontally at its stomach and collapsed.
It seemed Yofune-san’s Mark had activated.
Though she had explained it to me beforehand, it was even more impressive than I’d imagined.
A simple but powerful ability to “send out slashes.”
The attack range was also wide, as even the walls bore marks from it.
If I had to fight Yofune-san, how could I win?
Getting close would mean being overwhelmed by her swordsmanship, while staying at a distance would let her counter with her “Slash” attack.
However, she took a full minute to activate her Mark.
If I launched a surprise attack, I might win—
“We did it, Kuro!”
“Huh?”
Yofune-san extended her hand in a high-five gesture.
“Huh? What’s that?”
“It’s a high-five.”
“Oh, right.”
We high-fived, and the sound echoed through the dungeon.
“By the way, Kuro… is that supposed to be me?”
I asked the question directly.
“Yes, that’s you. I shortened Ishiguro-san because it’s a bit long during battles. If you don’t like it, I can call you something else.”
“I don’t mind, but… my name’s Ishiguro, so Kuro doesn’t really fit, does it?”
“Kuro is easier to say. But if you prefer, I can call you Guro.”
The name suddenly sounded a lot darker.
I didn’t like “Guro” at all.
“No, let’s stick with Kuro. Can I call you Hotaru instead?”
Calling a girl by her first name was a bit daunting, but the flow of the conversation made it feel natural.
“Sure, that’s fine. Let’s keep working together, Kuro.”
“Yeah, let’s. Hotaru.”
We shook hands and began cleaning up after the battle.
