Ossan Saikyō Chapter 13 Part 11
After being jostled around in the carriage for about 3 hours, its speed suddenly began to slow.
I stuck my head out to look, and in the middle of a vast pasture, about 300 meters from the road, I saw 5 enormous crocodile-shaped golems walking along.
Their outer surfaces were, as before, made from what looked like various corpses stitched together, making them almost identical to the Flesh Golems we had encountered in the elves’ village.
They didn’t seem to have noticed us and were heading toward the border with their backs to us.
“It’s the golems. Everyone, let’s go.”
I called out and got out of the carriage.
The four members of〈Drunken Tiger〉also got out of the carriage behind us. Incidentally,〈Drunken Tiger〉is an evenly split party of two men and two women.
“Soushi, what are you going to do?”
Karma came over to my side, glaring at the distant anomalies.
“First, let’s take down the nearest one with magic. After that, I’ll draw the others toward me with【Provoke】and take their attacks head-on, so once they’re immobilized, take them down one at a time. We’ll take the left.〈Drunken Tiger〉can flank right.”
“You’re going to draw the remaining 4 toward you by yourself after taking one out?”
“Yes. It won’t be a problem. For now, let’s get within range of our magic.”
Karma looked a little exasperated, but when Rani confidently told her, “Soushi will be fine~”, she backed off.
I explained the plan to the entire party and instructed the backline, Freynil, Sphenia, and Shizuna, to prepare their magic. Karma also gave me the signal that they were ready, so I took the lead and calmly advanced across the pasture toward the golems.
When we got to about 100 meters away, the nearest one seemed to notice us. It turned its massive body around and began moving toward us.
“Fire away.”
“Here I go.” “Yes.” “I shall.”
At my command, Freynil, Sphenia, and Shizuna all unleashed their magic at once. One of the mages from Karma’s party also appeared to fire a spell.
Struck directly by two beams of light and nearly 50 flaming spears, the giant golem’s massive body was half torn apart and collapsed onto its side. The simultaneous magical assault of a B-Rank party was devastating.
The remaining 4 seemed to notice us at that point, all of them beginning to move their massive bodies toward us at once. From a distance, their movements looked sluggish, but in reality they were moving at a considerable speed.
“They’re coming, Soushi.”
“Leave it to me.”
I answered Karma and stepped forward with《Indomitable Bastion》at the ready.
When I activated【Provoke】, all 4 golems let out growls and charged toward me.
“Let’s go! We’ll aim for its side from the right!”
Karma and the others sprang into action.
At the same time, Rani and Mariane ran to the left, while Freynil and Shizuna began concentrating their minds. Sphenia remained where she was and began firing arrows in rapid succession. Two Spirit golems were guarding the backline.
The lead flesh golem opened its enormous jaws and lunged to bite me. I blocked it with my shield and crushed its jaw with my mace, causing it to jerk violently before retreating.
Without giving it a moment’s respite, the next one charged in and rammed me. I thrust my shield forward to meet it, and instead, the tip of its snout was crushed with a sickening crunch.
“RAAH!”
I shouted as I forced it backward through sheer strength, and its massive body staggered back. Even I could only marvel at the power of the skill that could reverse such an overwhelming difference in mass.
Just as the one on the right was about to charge again, Karma’s greatsword cleanly severed its foreleg.
On top of that, the axe of one of the frontliners of〈Drunken Tiger〉came crashing down onto its back, apparently severing the part corresponding to its spine. Karma then chopped off its head, putting an end to it.
As expected of a B-Rank party, their offensive power was overwhelming.
Meanwhile, on the left, Rani severed the golem’s hind leg with her mithril sword. Mariane fired a series of throwing darts into it, and it stopped moving, apparently having been afflicted with『Paralysis』.
Two beams of light and flaming spears pierced its head, and when Rani sliced halfway through its neck, the golem toppled onto its side and stopped moving.
That left two.
As they charged at me again, I swung my mace horizontally. I imbued it with【Shockwave】at maximum output, and the heads of both golems seemed to burst apart and vanish from a single blow.
That wiped them all out, but I still didn’t feel like these golems were really B-Rank. C-Rank at best, I would say.
“Rani, Sphenia, do you sense anything nearby?”
I checked, but both of them shook their heads. Mazero, the Corpse Weaver wasn’t nearby.
As I pondered things for a moment, Karma came over, breathing heavily.
“Wow, Soushi, you’re really something! Those huge things didn’t stand a chance against you.”
“I’m strong against opponents that rely solely on brute force like those. More importantly, Karma, don’t you think something is strange?”
“What is?”
“The golems just now were probably summoned by a man named Mazero, who was hired by Mekalinan. But even so, they seemed to be doing nothing but walking around without any apparent purpose.”
“Mazero… I’ve heard that name before. But the golems were heading toward the border, right? If so, wouldn’t their target have been the fortress?”
“If he can summon them anywhere, I don’t think there would be any reason to summon them this far away. If anything, it almost seemed like those golems were deliberately moving slowly so they would be found.”
“What are you getting at? I’m not very good at this sort of thinking.”
“I think they may be trying to draw military forces away from the capital.”
“A diversionary operation? But if that’s the case, wouldn’t that mean their plan backfired? In the end, we’re the only ones who came out here.”
Karma shrugged and grinned.
She did have a point. In the end, only two B-Rank parties had been mobilized, so it shouldn’t have had much of an impact on the overall situation.
“You’re right. Maybe I’m overthinking it. And even if something does happen, the others can deal with it. Let’s collect the magic stones and head back.”
That was what I said, but I couldn’t shake the uneasy feeling.
If this really was a diversion, then if they were planning to do something here in Orz, it would have to be in the capital, Garouz.
If Mekalinan was aiming to provoke Orz into exploding in anger, then they would have to lay their hands on something important enough to Orz to warrant it. Before, that something had been Shizuna, but…
I had a feeling things were going to become unsettling again.
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E/N:
Everything's fishy here! Including the disgusting chimeric anomalies whose lives Ossan ended!
Stay tuned!
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