Chapter 556: The Guardian Stone Golem Battle Concludes

While the wounded Tauro was receiving treatment, Blue Thunder Beast continued fighting and drawing the Guardian Stone Golem’s attention.

Little by little, their attacks on the golem’s joints were taking effect. From the beginning of the battle, Jack, leader of Blue Thunder Beast, had repeatedly targeted the back of its right knee. That persistence paid off. Despite its massive appearance, the Guardian Stone Golem had moved surprisingly quickly, but now its right leg had become stiff and sluggish, and its attacks began to lag by a fraction of a second.

Thanks to that, their allies were now able to easily dodge attacks that they had previously only managed to avoid at the last moment.

“…All right, we’ve got this! If this keeps up, we might be able to land a powerful attack and finish it before it unleashes the next shockwave!”

With that, Jack once again struck the back of the golem’s right knee.

The Guardian Stone Golem dropped to one knee.

From that position, it swung its right fist at Jack, but he easily evaded and got it to focus on him.

Seeing that moment as a decisive opportunity, Longa, the longsword wielder, and Akku, the battle-axe user, raised their weapons and prepared to charge.

Seeing the frontline fighters preparing their finishing blows, Bomarne, the blast-fire mage, broke from the usual order and cast blast-fire magic to draw the golem’s attention, slamming it into the creature’s torso.

At first glance, the magic attack appeared ineffective—but countless cracks had begun to spread across the golem’s surface. It was working.

As Jack struck again to draw its attention, Longa and Akku, having completed their charge, unleashed their ultimate techniques on the Guardian Stone Golem.

“Great Spinning Helm Splitter!”

“Grand Whirlwind Body Crusher!”

The two spun and delivered their special moves to the head and torso respectively.

Then, in the very next instant—

The Guardian Stone Golem, which had been focused on Jack, suddenly flipped around to face Longa and Akku instead.

“What?!”

They realized its target priority had shifted to them, but it was already too late. They had already unleashed their special moves.

Without stopping, they drove their attacks into the golem.

However, as if it had learned through battle, the Guardian Stone Golem blocked Longa’s Great Spinning Helm Splitter using the thick part of its left arm as a shield. At the same time, it countered Akku’s Grand Whirlwind Body Crusher with a punch from its right fist.

A massive crack split through the golem’s left arm from Longa’s blade, but it used that same thick arm to swat him away, sending him crashing into a building wall. Akku, struck by a counter timed perfectly against the momentum of his own attack, coughed up blood and was likewise hurled into a wall.

“Longa! Akku!”

Realizing the dire situation, Jack immediately attacked again to draw the golem’s attention.

Had the golem decided this was the decisive moment?

It merely fended off Jack’s strike with a swing of its left arm and then began moving toward the unconscious Longa—clearly intending to finish him off.

It seemed the golem had judged the pair’s special moves to be lethal threats and changed its priority to eliminating them first.

“This is bad!”

Jack moved to intercept, stepping in front of the golem.

But the golem ignored him and continued toward Longa.

At that moment—

The twin mages of Silver Twin Mages, Gemma and Gemis, had been providing support, but they judged the situation an emergency and switched to offense, unleashing their specialty attack magic at the golem’s back.

However, the guardian remained unfazed, and when Jack stepped forward to protect Longa in front of it, it blew him away with a swing of its left arm and pressed forward.

That was when Black-Gold Wings finally took action.

With his great magic sword raised high, Ankh—his red hair and jet-black equipment streaking like twin beams of light—closed in from behind the golem.

Sensing him, the Guardian Stone Golem once again rotated its body around to face Ankh.

It had shifted its priority yet again.

Apparently, it had judged Ankh’s attack to be that dangerous.

The golem raised its left arm defensively against Ankh’s high-speed approach.

Unfazed, Ankh brought his massive magic sword crashing down.

The blade struck precisely at the spot Longa had cracked earlier, as though drawn to it.

The golem’s left arm was cleaved apart.

As Ankh prepared to follow with another attack, the golem retaliated with a right-handed punch.

But the fist first shattered the wall of light created by Ragune’s [Area Defense], reaching Ankh a split second late.

With ease, Ankh dodged and maneuvered around to the side of the golem’s now-destroyed left arm.

Meanwhile, Zion slipped past the golem to reach Longa and began treating him.

Aeris also rushed to Akku’s side, since he had suffered severe damage.

For the first time, the Guardian Stone Golem hesitated—its attack priorities momentarily thrown into confusion.

That was when Tauro drew the Bow of Artemis. The arrow nocked on the string emitted a cold, piercing light.

“[Aurora Arrow]—maximum magical power!”

Tauro’s arrow pierced through that instant of hesitation—the brief delay in the golem’s defense—and drove straight into its abdomen.

Passing by the golem’s right arm, it struck the area where a human’s dantian would be, embedding itself deep inside.

With a sharp crackling sound, the light in the golem’s eyes rapidly faded, and it stopped moving.

“…Did you… win?”

Jack murmured in disbelief, staring at the now-motionless Guardian Stone Golem.

“…Thank goodness. It was a pinpoint gamble that required exploiting a split-second opening. But using [Precision], my new ability [Sniping], and even [Great Fortune]—along with all my other abilities and equipment—I trusted my instincts and managed to pierce its core…”

Tauro sighed in relief as he wiped away the blood after coughing it up.

“As expected of our leader! Your instinct for the decisive moment is incredible!” Ankh laughed, giving a thumbs-up.

“Haha… More importantly, treatment comes first.”

At Tauro’s reminder, Fores, the forest priest of Blue Thunder Beast, and Budar, the ranger and pharmacist of Silver Twin Mages, who had been frozen in place until then, hurried over to help treat Longa, Akku, and Jack.