Chapter 18 – Apostle of the Otherworld

As Lee Hanseong stared at Prometheus’s face in shock.

“Meowrr!”

The cat suddenly looked up at the Sun Star King’s stone statue and let out a low cry.

[The Nameless Constellation warns you to prepare for battle.]

Thudthudthudthud!

The statue vibrated and then began to move.

Looking toward the treasure chest, Park Seongcheol had his hand placed on the chest.

‘So touching the treasure chest was the trigger that made the statue move!’

[Intruder. Eliminate.]

The statue—no, the Stone Golem—spread its imposing aura as it spoke in a stiff voice.

The aura emanating from it was clearly on par with the Berserk state Hob Goblin Rider.

It was a 4-Star level enemy.

‘Weren’t 4-Star enemies supposed to be only dungeon bosses?’

As if answering Lee Hanseong’s question, the cat looked into the void.

To alter history, one must first read the history they intend to change.

The cat’s eyes were gazing not at the present, but somewhere else.

Zzziiing!

[The Nameless Constellation is reviewing the history of the rewound timeline.]

The cat, having regained the Stigma Historical Alteration, transcended time and space with its gaze, reading the records of the party that had cleared this place before the Regression.

The records reviewed by the Constellation unfolded before their eyes.

In the left field of vision was the Sun Star King’s temple found by Lee Hanseong’s team, and in the right field of vision was Prometheus’s temple found by Jin Yuseong’s team.

The people there were the party that had cleared that place at the time.

‘The number of party members… is more than I knew?’

However, the party members Lee Hanseong knew had cleared the Crossroads of the Scales dungeon were only those reflected in the left field of vision.

The Awakened reflected on the right were complete strangers.

Judging by their sturdier equipment and more skilled movements compared to the original clearing party he knew, the right party seemed superior.

But here, their strength became their poison instead.

‘They probably died here.’

Sure enough, in the scene unfolding before their eyes, the right party confidently touched the treasure chest first, awakening the statue.

After a fierce battle, the party from the right passage barely managed to defeat the golem.

But their victory ultimately led to death.

Thudthudthudthud, clunk, clunk, clunk.

Then, as the weight of 4-Star Rank blood was added, the scales of the two passages tilted by three levels.

It seemed the balance had already been tilted by more than one level due to more slaughter committed on the way to the midpoint, and the golem’s death pushed the balance into catastrophe.

Creeeak!

The floor collapsed, and the right passage sank into a dark, bottomless pit.

In return, the left passage, which had been late in awakening the statue due to tending to injuries and was still in combat, experienced a sudden, rapid ascent.

Grrrrr- clunk.

And finally, when the ascent stopped, the golem fighting them crumbled on its own, and simultaneously, a pillar of light revealed itself in that spot.

It was an exit leading out of the dungeon.

The left party hesitated briefly before taking the treasure chest and escaping.

With that, the scene before their eyes ended.

This was the untold secret history of the Crossroads of the Scales clearing before the Regression that I hadn’t known.

‘So that’s why I mistakenly thought the 4-Star golem was the dungeon boss.’

Judging by the golem’s fighting style, it was an opponent our forces could definitely defeat.

The problem was after defeating it.

‘If one side defeats the golem first, the balance between the passages tilts significantly.’

The weight of 4-Star Rank blood was not small.

Therefore, to maintain balance, the golems in both passages must be defeated simultaneously.

But suddenly, the scene I just saw and the inscription on the altar seemed to connect.

‘Could it be?’

Crossroads of Ascension… Crossroads of the Scales.

World collision… the Otherworld and Earth.

The left passage ascending as the right passage fell… the Great War ten years later.

‘If they placed the two worlds on each side of the two-armed scales and slaughtered Earth’s life to tilt the balance of the scales with the weight of that blood…?’

The Otherworld’s Ascension due to Earth’s fall.

That was likely the purpose of the Great War.

And there is only one group capable of orchestrating such a grand scheme.

The Twelve Constellations of the Heavenly Palace!

‘What on earth do they think of Earth…?!’

Grind.

Even spreading the power of Spirits to help Earth was ultimately no different from fattening livestock.

A ploy to increase the weight of Earth’s blood.

His teeth gritted at the Heavenly Palace’s mindset that viewed them merely as sacrifices.

The moment his spirit was about to be consumed by rage toward the Twelve Constellations.

[The Nameless Constellation warns you to focus on what’s in front of you!]

The Constellation’s message snapped Lee Hanseong back to reality.

Right before his eyes, the statue, which had just fully emerged from the relief, was swinging its arm down toward them.

“Watch out for the shockwave!”

“Got it!”

Park Seongcheol, having received the golem’s combat patterns discovered by Lee Hanseong via Overmind, confidently nodded.

Jin Yuseong’s team, who had also touched the treasure chest to awaken the statue in sync with Lee Hanseong’s team’s situation, nodded in the same way.

Kwoong!

As the shock from the Stone Golem slamming the ground spread throughout the midpoint, the boss battle began in both passages.

* * *

To summarize the characteristics of a 4-Star golem: ‘Hardness,’ ‘Slowness,’ and ‘Overwhelming Power.’

Kwoong!

Its movements themselves were slow enough to dodge comfortably, but each attack from above slamming down to the ground was a powerful blow strong enough to trigger a shockwave.

If caught in the circular shockwave spreading from the impact point, one would fall, and once fallen, unable to dodge follow-up attacks, becoming pulp—that was the pattern.

“Jump!”

Tap!

Thus, the cat had to leap in time with the golem’s attacks each time, letting the shockwave pass beneath it while momentarily airborne.

The problem was that attacks could come while in the air.

Whoosh! Swish.

But that wasn’t a problem for us, as we could use Black Shadow Manipulation Art to pull each other through the air to move.

Anyway, that was the situation: dodging the opponent’s slow, powerful attacks while attacking the golem.

Clang! Ka-clang!

The plan was to lower its durability as much as possible, then finish it off with Awakening Skills activated in sync from both passages to defeat the golems simultaneously, but it was just too hard.

“How long do we have to keep hitting it?”

“Probably quite a bit longer.”

No matter how much they hit it, there was no sign of its durability decreasing.

But if they recklessly used extreme offense-type Awakening Skills like “One Swing Sweeps” and one side’s timing was off, the balance would tilt.

Having seen the outcome of the other party before the Regression, it was difficult to attempt a hasty strategy.

It would have been easier if they could see the golem’s remaining health.

…The moment he thought that, the <Appraisal> Skill activated.

[Appraised <Stone Golem: Model Luke Meyer>.]

It seemed the Appraisal Skill worked because the golem was an inanimate object, not a living being.

The remaining durability appeared above its head in the form of a bar.

And it was the same for the golem on Jin Yuseong’s side.

[Appraised <Stone Golem: Model Prometheus>.]

The <Appraisal> Skill activated remotely via Overmind as a medium, revealing the durability of the Prometheus golem being attacked by Jin Yuseong’s team as well.

“Ha, not even half worn down.”

“Golems are tough.”

Park Seongcheol clicked his tongue after checking the golem’s durability.

Its defense was beyond imagination.

It was due to the Skills the golem possessed.

“<Physical Damage Reduction>, <Durability Enhancement>, <Physical Damage Halving>, <Durability Major Enhancement>. How many physical defense Skills does it have?”

“Ha, so physical damage isn’t even half effective.”

If it weren’t for the Spirit Treasures and demon swords, their weapons might have run out of durability before defeating the golem.

But then, suddenly, the reduction rate of the durability bar plummeted.

Clang! Clang!

The repulsive force felt through the swords changed.

Park Seongcheol looked at the golem’s durability bar with puzzled eyes.

“……?”

“It’s 《Physical Damage Immunity》.”

Lee Hanseong, who immediately grasped the golem’s condition via <Appraisal>, explained.

The Stone Golem’s First Awakening Skill 《Physical Damage Immunity》 was an ability that completely blocked physical damage for its duration.

‘Duration is… one minute, I think.’

Since that state wouldn’t last long, they focused solely on evasion for a while.

Attacking now would be futile, so it was better to conserve at least a little stamina.

But meanwhile, the durability bar began recovering bit by bit.

“Ha, recovery too? It really has everything.”

The golem didn’t only have defensive Skills.

<Motion Detection>, <Magic Core Activation>, <Energy Focus>, <Auto Restoration>.

From Skills detecting enemies, utilizing a power source, manipulating mana, to Skills using that mana to restore damaged parts.

It was a 4-Star for a reason.

“The clearing time will take longer than expected.”

Moreover, there were still two more Awakening Skills it hadn’t used yet.

‘4-Stars can usually use three Awakening Skills.’

Adding the Vocation Awakening Skill makes four, but monsters rarely have occasion to use Vocation Awakening Skills, so three was correct.

He inferred its Awakening Skills based on its general Skills.

Awakening Skills are Skills that have evolved several stages through a Constellation’s Blessing upon achieving an Awakening Feat, so they inevitably have some connection to the general Skills possessed at the time of achieving the Awakening Feat.

‘Physical Damage Immunity is probably an Awakening Skill derived from <Physical Damage Reduction> and <Durability Enhancement>.’

The next Awakening Skills would be one derived from <Motion Detection> and <Magic Core Activation>, and one derived from <Energy Focus> and <Auto Restoration>.

Wooong!

As soon as the duration of Physical Damage Immunity ended, a faint light swirled in the golem’s eyes.

It seemed the golem’s magic core was now fully operational.

After the light starting from its eyes swept around the golem’s entire body once.

Ting! Ting!

Our swords, which had begun attacking again, were deflected by something just before touching the golem.

“What was that just now…?”

“Clearly, light flashed at the spot that was attacked, right?”

《Mana Reactive Armor》.

The Stone Golem’s Second Awakening Skill, which forms a localized mana protective shield at the point of impact in response to the opponent’s attack, especially mana.

Since the Gluttonous Demon Sword and the Promising Candidates’ Treasure Vessels all contain mana, as long as Mana Reactive Armor was active, we couldn’t deal damage to the golem.

“If it reacts to mana, should we attack with bare fists?”

“Then our attacking hands would hurt more, wouldn’t they?”

No immediate answer came, so they just recklessly charged in.

Ting! Ting! Chang!

Amidst that, an attack that accidentally collided with Park Seongcheol’s sword and changed trajectory landed as a valid hit.

Seeing that, Lee Hanseong’s expression brightened instantly.

“Ah! The reactive armor can only block a single part for an instant.”

Just now, when the protective shield generation location of the reactive armor was slightly off, the shield failed to block the attack.

“Put feints into the attacks! Make the protective shield block the wrong place!”

“Haha. That’s easy.”

Gobhan’s Swordsmanship was a great help in deceiving the golem’s detection ability.

Flutter flutter flutter…

The trembling sword tip confused the attack trajectory.

Similar feints were being executed from the hands of all party members.

Normally, it wouldn’t be an easy strategy to follow instantly, but they were currently connected via Overmind.

While they couldn’t share all techniques, they could sufficiently share feints capable of deceiving Mana Reactive Armor and landing valid hits.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

Valid hits landed consecutively, whittling down durability faster than the restoration speed.

Moreover, when the reactive armor was generated, the golem’s own defense seemed to drop, as its durability was chipped away rapidly.

The moment the durability bar was reduced by about half.

Woooooong-!

The golem’s eyes, which had been tinged white, turned bright red.

[The Nameless Constellation warns you!]

The moment he felt his hair stand on end and perceived the Constellation’s warning.

“Duck!”

Simultaneous with Lee Hanseong’s shout, a crimson beam shot from the golem’s eyes.

Overwhelming destructive power reminiscent of the blood dragon from “One Swing Sweeps”!

Zzziiing!

Following the golem’s line of sight, intense heat spread along the trajectory of the beam that passed at chest height.

Cracklecrackle.

Sparks scattered from the molten, lava-like traces left on the temple pillars and floor where the beam passed.

They survived because the party members, having perceived the danger in advance via Overmind before he shouted, had already dropped to the ground a step earlier; if they had been even slightly slower, it would have been instant death.

“We almost died if we were any slower.”

“Thanks for the warning.”

This was the Stone Golem’s third Awakening Skill, 《Overload Beam》.

However, as its power was exceptional, so was its cost.

True to its name ‘Overload,’ the golem poured all energy, even that used for restoration and reactive armor, into the beam. It was currently in a state where recovery had stopped and defense was lowered.

Now was fever time.

“Not the time for thanks. Drop the feints and attack as much as possible!”

“Okay.”

Swishswishswishswishswishswish! Kakakakakakaka!

They focused solely on attacking, even conserving the energy to speak.

The durability bar was rapidly diminishing.

And just before the golem’s overload recovered, when the durability bar had about 10% left.

《One Swing Sweeps》, 《Assassination Directive》.

From both passages, Park Seongcheol and Jin Yuseong each unleashed their Awakening Skills.

In the left passage, the crimson-dyed Three-Foot Sword shot forth a blood dragon.

In the right passage, the Stone Golem’s shadow rose from behind and pierced its master’s chest.

Kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa!!

Simultaneously, the two statues whose durability bars vanished crumbled.

Normally, a Feat for defeating a 4-Star enemy would have come, but Feats related to dungeon clearing are settled all at once upon dungeon clearance, so no message appeared yet.

However, considering the Feats related to Big Rats and Shadow Spiders hunted along the way here, Lee Hanseong’s party’s 2-Star Awakening was practically a foregone conclusion.

Thudthudthudthud! Click.

And, sensing the collapse of the Stone Golem, the door to the opposite passage opened.

But now, there was something to check before that.

Just like the door to the next passage, after the Stone Golem was destroyed, the treasure chest, its lid’s lock automatically released, awaited us.

It was time to check the boss battle reward.