It appeared with a tremendous rumble and a deafening sound.
At first, I thought it was an earthquake or an avalanche, but the moment I turned my gaze towards the direction where the Crusaders were positioned, I understood.
“W-What is that… a giant robot?”
On the other side of the horde of battle slaves, enormous silhouettes began to rise one after another against the backdrop of the enemy camp featuring the Crusader flag and a magical trebuchet launching fiery rocks.
Glistening under the blazing sunlight was a dull-colored iron body. At the center of a round head resembling a full-face helmet was a glaring crimson eye.
With a stout cylindrical body and short legs, it looked just like a golem… but even though there are many large-bodied golems, I had never seen or heard of anything this massive.
It looked to be about twenty meters tall. The catapults lined up behind it appeared small, creating a sense of scale that felt distorted.
And there they stood, ten gigantic iron giants.
“No way…”
In the face of such overwhelming size, those words involuntarily slipped out. However, this wasn’t a dream world created by the Last Rose; it was unfortunately a harsh reality.
The ten giant golems indeed existed.
“Chrono! That must be an Ancient Golem!”
At that moment, Lily, who was currently battling the Chimera soldiers on the wall and was still suspended in mid-air, flew back to me.
I had heard the name and existence of the Ancient Golem in classes at the School of the Gods.
They say there are many magical tools in the ancient ruins that cannot be reproduced in the modern age, and one of those is a super-sized golem. It is classified as an Ancient Golem because it was produced in ancient times.
Most of them are damaged, leaving only their large steel bodies, but there are rare cases where they successfully reactivate. Though not in Spada, some countries utilize resurrected giant golems as weapons for sieges.
I had been taught that they are a type of rare and powerful ancient weapon, but I never imagined I would encounter one in a place like this. Let alone ten of them.
“Damn it, did the Crusaders pull such a giant thing out from deep within the ancient ruins?”
“I heard that an Ancient Golem appeared from the Media Ruins, Chrono. I’ve heard it before from Lily.”
That rumor was likely from before I met her.
I recognized the name Media Ruins. I had accepted a quest for a newly discovered section survey of that ruin and left Irz Village heading towards the Capital Daedalus. In hindsight, deciding whether to take that quest or not might have been a turning point in my fate.
Still, it is truly strange how such an ancient golem excavated from the Media Ruins has appeared right before me.
“I can’t believe it, but since they appeared like that, they’re probably planning to breach the castle walls, right?”
I could see the shimmering lights sparkling on the snow from here. It’s likely that the Ancient Golem was summoned by a magic circle. Otherwise, there’s no way such a massive chunk of iron could have been brought here to this mountain.
“Hey, Chrono, what are we going to do?”
Lily, who wrapped her arms around my neck and clung to me, asked in a delightfully cute manner, but the content of her question imposed a heavy decision.
No, the answer had been decided from the beginning. We came here with the resolve to kill the Apostles. We couldn’t afford to be intimidated by ten or twenty giant golems.
“Change the priority target to the Ancient Golem. Let’s return to the wall for combat preparation.”
“What about the Chimera?”
“I’ll leave that to the others. For now, dealing with that is more important.”
“Okay, got it, Chrono!”
As I heard her cheerful response, I commanded Hitsugi, “Lift me up.”
“We’re going up now!”
With a similarly cheerful response echoing in my mind, the binding arts that suspended me shot up with tremendous force.
My hands were occupied with a cursed machete and a Gatling gun, but the chains wrapped around my waist and shoulders stabilized my upright position on the vertical surface. While keeping Lily clinging to my neck, I raced straight up the wall.
“Get out of the way!”
I kicked down a Chimera soldier that intervened in my path and successfully returned to the top of the castle wall. The time was around five seconds.
“Welcome back, Chrono-san, Lily-san.”
“I’m home!”
Upon landing again on the castle wall path, Fiona greeted us. She must have had a hard time moving back and forth to match our movements, but she still firmly maintained her position as a rear guard. Her performance was impressive.
“Fiona, we’re going to take down that big golem next.”
“One for each of us… no, it’s probably better if three of us focus on one.”
Considering we were about to face that steel giant, Fiona quickly suggested a countermeasure plan without hesitation. It was as if she were discussing an efficient way to hunt down a swarm of weak monsters, her expression free of burden.
“Is it as tough as it looks?”
“It’s tougher than it appears. An Ancient Golem for siege purposes is quite rare even in the Sinclair Republic. From the looks of it, it seems to be a mass-produced model, but it remains a powerful siege weapon. At the very least, it’s not something an individual can handle alone.”
However, there was a caveat that applied to ordinary soldiers.
We were Rank 5 adventurers with special treatment, granted ‘Autonomous Action Authority.’ We would need to produce at least the equivalent of a hundred men’s worth of effort to not let the Spada Army down.
“I want us to sink at least one… no, two of them ourselves.”
“Don’t push it too hard, Chrono-san. If you run out of magical power here, the ‘Element Master’ will exit the stage too early.”
That would be a problem. I wasn’t participating in this war with the mindset of sprinting full speed for the first fifty meters and then being satisfied with just that.
“Well, that’s true. I guess we have to trust the Spada Army.”
For now, I should concentrate on ensuring we take down one of them securely. It would be pointless to launch a half-hearted attack that could be blocked.
“When the enemy is within range, unleash maximum firepower. Lily will use ‘Star Fall,’ and Fiona will use ‘Golden Sun’—”
While issuing confirmations nearly like instructions, I began preparing for my own actions.
Thinking about it, while Lily’s incantation is short and Fiona’s is moderate, my preparations take the most time. Well, considering that those seemingly hefty golems would take some time to approach within our effective range of about a hundred meters, there is enough room for preparation.
Fortunately, the golems have not begun firing massive cannons, so there was no worry about long-range bombardment. The lined-up Ancient Golems stood completely motionless, akin to gigantic stone statues, not even attempting to draw forth any weapons that matched their height.
They might have been summoned, but it might also take considerable time for them to get moving. In any case, this meant I could ‘charge’ for quite a while.
“I am the ‘Charged Particle Dragon Cannon.’ Here we go, Hitsugi, barrel transformation! Thunder Cannon Form!”
As I returned the machete to the shadow and with my left hand gripped firmly on the foregrip of ‘The Greed,’ I secured it with both hands.
Thanks to Hitsugi’s previous practical experience with this transformation in the Asbel Mountain Range, I wondered if it might be a little improved since then. The movements of the tentacles attempting to disassemble and reassemble parts were devoid of hesitation.
“Umm, let’s see… Ah! W-Wait, what…?”
From the sound of the maid girl’s distressed voice, it seemed something was off.
“Yes! It’s done, Master!”
“Hey, are you sure the timing is right?”
“I apologize, Master… If there were any shortcomings, Hitsugi will repay them physically!”
You always serve with your tentacles anyway. Seriously, what is she saying?
“Well, as long as it is properly completed, that’s fine.”
“Thank you! I appreciate your forgiveness! I love my kind Master!”
I think this should be called sweet rather than kind… but, whatever. Thus, the transformation of ‘The Greed’ into Thunder Cannon Form, with a brilliance like purple lightning coursing through the barrel, was successfully completed.
As I watched the tentacles that had finished their task return to the shadows, I began charging a pseudo-thunder attribute from the grip I held. Instead of a proper mage reciting a long incantation, I spent this unremarkable charging time simply flowing magic power.
Chimera soldiers were still clambering up the walls, wreaking havoc, and the battle slaves bravely continued to challenge the castle walls. Amidst the noisy combat situation, all I could do now was wait quietly, even if I caught glimpses of adventurers or Spada soldiers being slashed by sharp claws. I wouldn’t move until I fired this.
“…Hey, there’s no way those golems will just stay still, right?”
“If they were just paper mâché, it would be an awfully foolish strategy.”
Even a Crusader wouldn’t expect us to flee just because they set that up.
However, as I continued to stare at their motionless forms since their emergence, such thoughts began to creep into my mind. It was an excessively convenient interpretation on my part.
“Ah, they’re moving, Chrono!”
My hopeful assumption was shattered almost immediately. Lily, who had been fixated on the line of golems, finally announced the activation of those massive ancient weapons.
The sound of thunderous footsteps reverberated throughout the battleground dominated by shouts, screams, and cries.
The ten golems took a simultaneous step forward.
“Whoa… they’re actually moving…”
As a Japanese man, and as a man, I couldn’t help but feel some admiration upon witnessing the reality of a giant robot coming to life.
The ten Ancient Golems, appearing heavy as they looked, walked with a natural, smooth motion. I couldn’t even imagine how many tons they weighed, but with every large step they took, snow exploded around them. Despite being on level ground, it was as if avalanches were occurring at their feet, with white waves swirling.
The golem brigade advancing in a perfectly aligned formation exuded an overwhelming aura of power that suggested they could break through any obstacle in their path. Nothing could stop their advance, not even a gargantuan wall twice their own height or the sturdy Spada soldiers defending it.
But in that determination, I was belatedly made aware that it included not just the enemies, but also our allies.
“W-Watch out! They’re trampling the battle slaves—”
They crushed them underfoot. Like stomping on ants crossing a path, without hesitation or even noticing their existence. They were definitely lives that existed there, no matter how small, being trampled upon.
The horde of battle slaves was continuing to charge across this snowfield, about one kilometer wide. And from behind, without even a hint of evasion, the enormous Ancient Golems began to march proudly. Ten of them, side by side.
Their twenty legs resembled moving stone pillars. I couldn’t discern how many battle slaves were crushed underfoot due to the enormous weight causing clouds of snow to rise, but I clearly witnessed several battle slaves being engulfed by the approaching avalanche. Not just me, but all the Spada soldiers standing on the wall. It was something we couldn’t help but see.
“After all, battle slaves are merely expendable pieces used for reconnaissance, right? It wouldn’t matter if they got scattered like that.”
“So that’s how the Crusaders operate. They really are something else.”
Anger rose within me, causing my grip to tremble.
Had the commander leading this massive army issued the march order with a calm face? Were the actual Crusader soldiers from Sinclair filled with confidence after witnessing this?
I wanted nothing more than to fire ‘The Greed’ at those white bastards watching from a distance right now… but no, not yet, I couldn’t pull the trigger.
“You filthy bastards… I’ll crush you…”
I spat that out while trying to suppress the intense fury that felt like a curse had taken hold. An unbearable rage, an uncontrollable killing intent. Yet, I could still endure.
The golems moving forward while trampling the battle slaves were already within five hundred meters of the castle wall. Whether their internal engines were heating up from moving those large iron bodies or if it was just a feeling, they seemed to be slightly increasing their speed.
Just a little more. Just a bit more—far from the only one feeling restless, it seemed like everyone felt the same way.
“I can create a burning curse.”
I heard the melody of a witch’s magical chant reach my ears.