Escape From a Deserted Island With Enemy Female Soldiers - Chapter 68



67 – Three Hundred Yards in Search of a Friend (2)

A dinosaur golem. To be honest, it’s hard to resist.

It wasn’t without its rough edges, but that made it cooler. Enough to make you want to ride it at least once. Even if the creator was a monster, it was a masterpiece worthy of respect.

The problem is that masterpiece is trying to kill us.

Thump thump thump thump!

The two dinosaurs started charging. It was around then that I snapped out of my thoughts.

Those things are enemies. If we don’t take them down, we die. There’s no running, either. Right behind us was a thornbush forest.

Fighting is the only option.

“Mage! Dodge!”

I rolled with Valkyrie and started scouting.

First, the body.

Looks tough as hell at a glance. Alloy covered in mana. Normal steel would be one thing, but I doubt we could easily pierce it with Celestine Stone. It’s a golem, so it probably won’t feel pain, and there’ll be almost no flinching.

We have to find its weak point. I recalled everything I learned back in the day, step by step.

Maseokhak evolved from Jigyemado. And Jigyemado includes golem creation. Even though I wasn’t a specialist in that area, I knew the basic principles from my undergraduate studies.

[“Miyo!”]

[“Agh! Why!”]

[“Every golem has a core! Find the core and destroy it!”]

[“Where, the hell, is it! Eeeek!”]

[“Likely on its back! If you find a circuit board, rip it off and pull out the magic stone! That’ll weaken it easily!”]

[“Ooh!”]

Miyo ran with the Saintess. If those two could just hold down one golem, it’d be a huge help.

“You, come with me.”

I pulled the Valkyrie along and moved in the opposite direction. We naturally split up. The Saintess and the fox sisters as one team, the Valkyrie and I as another.

“We’re going to get on that thing’s back. Get ready.”

I explained the plan with gestures and body language. The Valkyrie nodded. She increased her running speed. I matched her stride. It felt like a three-legged race.

It’s hard running while holding hands with the Valkyrie. It’s tiring, but on the other hand, we were in sync. It was just like our current relationship. Squeaking and creaking, but somehow moving forward.

Just then, the golem opened its mouth. A cannon barrel, like the main gun of a tank, popped out from inside its maw and sprayed flames.

Whoosh!

Azure flames raced across the ground, scraping the surface. The world in front of us was engulfed in fire.

“Ugh!”

“Don’t be scared, run!”

I gripped the Valkyrie’s hand tightly. I spun wide, pulling her into my embrace. Flames brushed past the space where the Valkyrie’s hair had been.

“I won’t let you catch fire!”

I pulled out the Iceflower Stone.

[“Freeze.”]

I rapidly cooled the incoming fireball. Steam billowed up like a cloud.

The mana inside me was threatening to bottom out in an instant. I glared. Focus. Minimize mana loss.

I ran in an arc. My goal was to tail the golem and climb onto its back.

Kreeeak.

The golem turned its head in response to our movements. Flames fanned out like a fan, heating the air to a boil.

But there’s always a limit to the angle you can turn your head.

The golem’s head reached its rotation limit at some point. It would inevitably have to turn its body to keep tracking us.

The b*stard lumbered around step by step. That massive body is specialized for charging. There’s bound to be difficulties quickly rotating while maintaining its center of gravity.

Whoosh!

I dodged the incoming tail and took a running start.

Valkyrie leaped high. She grabbed onto the golem’s back and rapidly climbed up. She, already up there, reached out a hand.

“Grab on!”

I grabbed Valkyrie’s hand and climbed up. The golem shook its body wildly. My vision vibrated. Even so, somehow, I managed to get on.

I sat Valkyrie in front of me and sat behind her. Her back was pressed tightly against my chest.

“Grrrrr.”

The golem’s shaking becomes even more violent. I wrapped my arms around Valkyrie’s waist. At the same time, I clenched my thighs with all my might. We absolutely can’t fall off here.

“Mage!”

“Stab right in front of you!”

Valkyrie imbued her spear with divine power and struck downwards.

Kwaddeudeuk!

A heavy thrust pierced through the crack in the armor. Sephiron flickered. A little bit of the outer shell peeled away.

Yeah, just a little bit.

“Goddamn, that’s fucking solid!”

“Keep going!”

If once isn’t enough, then do it as many times as it takes.

Valkyrie swung her arm again and again. The circuit, buried deep within the thick armor, began to slowly reveal itself.

It wasn’t just armor protecting the core.

From noble mtl dot com

“This is…”

A magic formula.

Intricate formulas, like interlocking gears, enveloped the circuit.

“Don’t touch it. It’s a protection formula.”

Designed to explode if you touch it wrong. Complicated, too, for that matter. The guy who made this definitely had a screw loose.

The malicious design was obvious, but it wasn’t something that couldn’t be solved.

No matter how complex, a circuit is still just a circuit. If someone designed it, there’s always an algorithm to unravel it.

Using all the theory I’ve learned and a little bit of intuition…

“Got it, disarmed!”

There was always a way to make even a difficult problem easy.

Peeling back the layers of the magic circle, the core controlling the golem finally came into view. A magic stone. A highly sensitive magic stone, about the size of a palm, pulsed like a living thing.

“Mage!”

“Okay, pull it out now!”

Valkyrie used her spear as a lever and snapped it off. The extracted magic stone went flying into the distance.

The golem, its power source severed, lost strength and staggered. Our bodies tilted to one side as well.

“Ugh!”

“Khk!”

I rolled across the ground, Valkyrie in my arms.

Kroooaaar!

A monstrous roar echoed. Valkyrie and I scrambled to our feet.

The remaining golem thundered toward us, each step a heavy thud. Atop it sat the Saint and the fox sisters.

“Help! Help!”

“Mage!”

[“Just need to strip away the last magic circle! Hold it back for a bit longer!”]

The golem charged, its maw opening. It was going to unleash flames again, just like before.

If that’s the case, the countermeasure remains the same.

I drew a Froststone and chanted. As the dinosaur spewed fire, mana particles surged forth and gripped the air.

“Ah…!”

The flames barely stopped before Valkyrie’s eyes. She was trembling. I couldn’t let her trauma flare up again. I gripped her hand tightly and said,

“I told you, I won’t let you get burned.”

*

“Done!”

Miyo had undone all the magic circles. The last circuit had been particularly difficult, but by puzzling it out with her sister, they somehow managed to succeed.

The last golem also lost its balance and crashed. Riyo landed lightly.

“Hoo-ooo.”

My whole body was soaked. Surrounded by flames, it was especially hot. My ears and tail were starting to get singed.

Anyway, the battle was over.

“Is everyone alright?”

“Yes, we’re alright.”

The group took a short break.

Erich wove breath, and Riyo went to retrieve the mana stones that had flown far away.

“Goddess of healing, grant stability and peace to everyone’s bodies and minds.”

Tiria erased minor wounds with her prayer. Even the singe marks disappeared.

Rachel still clung to Erich’s arm. The surroundings were fire. Blue flames that produced no smoke and didn’t spread, but the burning was still terrifying.

But.

When she’s near this mage, even that fear is diluted, like water mixed in. At least, it goes down to a bearable level.

Leaning on the shoulder of an enemy, even a hated one, isn’t a pleasant experience.

Of course, there were times in the past when they were naked and skin to skin. But it wasn’t as embarrassing then as it is now. Survival had been the priority.

Now, isn’t she relying on him purely because of trauma? This is the first time she’s become this dependent on a mage.

I hate it. But it’s reassuring.

Those two feelings churned and shredded Rachel’s heart. The faces of her comrades, killed by this man’s hand, kept flickering in her mind.

Around the time Rachel was sighing.

“Huh?”

A strange sound reached Riyo’s ears.

[‘Ggrrrrrr.’]

[‘Hee, heehee, ehehehe.’]

It’s echoing directly in my head.

“W-what the hell?!”

Definitely a human voice. A damp timbre, like a cave.

The two voices just kept cackling. The kind of laughter a madman would make.

Could it be a demon come looking for her? Because she started learning magic?

“Hck.”

Miyo sucked in a sharp breath. Getting desperate, she grabbed the stone and went to Erich.

[“…the sound is coming from that stone.”]

[“Stone?”]

[“Gather and focus your mana well. You should be able to read the mana signature.”]

Miyo sat ramrod straight beside the mage. As she weaved breaths and regulated her ki, she could indeed feel the vibrations of the two stones.

[“Uh oh? Really? Why?”]

[“My guess is they crammed the soul of a dead person into that stone and used it as a golem core.”]

[“What? Are they fucking insane?”]

Turning a dead person into a stone and making them fight again. Even a demon would be horrified.

It was then that Kalon and David, nestled snugly in Erich’s pocket, reacted.

[“Wait, does that mean…?”]

[“oooh. Are you saying we could become dinosaurs?”]

Riyo started to hear the voices of the two Mage Nation officers. Starting to hear them. The effects of learning magic were kicking in.

The first impression of those voices he heard…

[“Mom, Dad! When I grow up, I wanna be a dinosaur!”]

[“Wooo!”]

Truly pathetic.

Erich, having finished Breath-Weaving, rose from his spot. Rachel followed suit.

“Hmm.”

He examined the two golems’ chassis in turn.

Those b*stards’ armor was so damn tough. Hardly any external damage.

Maybe, just maybe, we can use them as is.

“Care to give it a try?”

[“You don’t gotta tell me twice, or, well, stone’ll hurt.”]

[“Let’s do this right now.”]

Erich called Miyo over.

[“I’m gonna sync my seniors with these chassis now. Hold onto me, and if it doesn’t seem right, help me pull out the mana stone immediately.”]

Miyo nodded.

Erich carefully took out David and slid him into the circuit.

Thump, thump.

The Miyo sisters’ hearts pounded fiercely. Worried, but also excited.

In that tense moment, light flickered in the golems’ eyes.

Kugugugung.

“……!”

Rachel, Tiria, Liyo and Miyo, and even Erich who had plugged in the magic stone, were startled. The dinosaur, risen again on the earth, roared thunderously.

“O, oh, ooo——!!”