Chapter 27
Crack, crunch!
The harsh grinding sound of massive rocks scraping against each other slammed against the walls of the cavern.
Chaehо kicked off the ground and lightly pulled himself backward.
A stone fist the size of a small house crashed down exactly where he had been standing a moment ago.
BOOM!
The obsidian-like rock covering the floor split apart like a spiderweb with a deep, heavy impact.
Sharp fragments shot in every direction.
Chaehо casually knocked them aside with the flat of his sword and let out a short breath.
Damn, that thing is ridiculously heavy.
Its entire body was covered in thick layers of stone armor.
The Stone Armor Golem, an upper-tier C-rank monster, was infamous for its defense.
Trying to drive a sword straight through that solid shell was something only a beginner would do.
If the blade failed to pierce the rock and bounced back, the recoil could easily break the swordsman's wrist or throw off their stance, leaving them wide open to the next attack.
Chaehо didn't rush.
Even under the crushing hostility filling the cavern, his footsteps maintained the same steady rhythm.
The golem twisted its massive body again and swung both arms across itself.
Whoosh!
The sound of its arms tearing through the air struck his ears.
But the trajectory was obvious.
Because it was so large and heavy, the motions before each attack were noticeably slow.
Instead of raising his sword to block, Chaehо bent his knees and slipped beneath the golem's arm.
A violent gust scattered his hair as the attack passed overhead.
The moment it was gone, Chaehо corrected his stance and carefully watched the golem's movements.
Its defense is high, but its movements are huge.
This wasn't just knowledge from a textbook.
It was real combat data he was confirming with his own eyes.
Chaehо wasn't looking at the thick rock armor itself.
Whenever the golem raised an arm or bent a leg, the overlapping stone plates shifted slightly.
Tiny gaps formed between them.
Those moving joints were his real target.
Rock can't stretch like human muscle. If it wants to walk or swing its arms, there have to be joints somewhere.
Crack!
The golem stomped the ground and raised both arms high above its head.
It was a simple attack pattern meant to crush the intruder in front of it with brute force.
Chaehо stepped backward, keeping his distance.
His feet glided smoothly across the hard stone floor, conserving as much stamina as possible.
"Being huge isn't always an advantage."
Chaehо muttered lightly as he loosened his wrist and adjusted his grip on the sword.
The golem let out an irritated roar at the human who refused to come within reach.
ROOOOAR!
A deep red light flashed from the two holes in its face.
As if its frustration had finally reached its limit, the golem suddenly stopped.
Then it leaned its upper body far backward.
Its massive leg joints bent deeply, and its stone body compressed like a giant spring.
The ground itself seemed to groan beneath its weight.
It's coming.
Chaehо's eyes sharpened.
The instant the golem put all its weight into the charge...
Its hard stone armor would bend, creating the widest possible opening between the plates.
That moment was about to come.
RUMBLE!
The cavern shook as the golem explosively launched itself forward.
Its massive body came crashing toward Chaehо like an avalanche.
A huge shadow completely swallowed his vision.
There was no angle left for him to dodge sideways.
Chaehо didn't move away.
Instead, the world reflected in his eyes began to change.
Time stretched to an extreme degree.
Even breathing felt difficult.
The moment his skill activated, everything around him slowed.
Dust falling from the cavern ceiling seemed to stop in midair.
The giant body of the golem flying toward him looked frozen like a still image.
Even the deafening noise around him became muffled, as though it had sunk beneath thick water.
In that silent, nearly frozen world, only Chaehо's thoughts continued moving sharply.
His eyes swept across the back of the golem's knee, which was deeply bent for the charge.
The stone plates had opened wide.
A red mana line connecting to its core, normally hidden completely inside its armor, was exposed.
Another opening appeared inside its elbow as the golem stretched its arm forward.
There.
Chaehо moved immediately.
He could maintain the skill for only 0.3 seconds.
Inside the slowed world, his body slid beneath the golem's massive arm.
Shhk.
A chilling sound cut through the air as Chaehо thrust his sword.
The instant time returned to normal, the tip of his sword was already buried deep inside the joint behind the golem's knee.
CRACK!
It wasn't the sound of hard stone breaking.
It was the strange tearing sound of a mana circuit being ripped apart between the stone plates.
At the same time, Chaehо used the recoil from his sword to spin his body smoothly.
Once again, the world slowed as if it had stopped.
0.5 seconds.
Within Chaehо's vision, he could see the exact path of the golem losing balance as its damaged knee caused it to pitch forward.
Its arm swung helplessly through the air.
Chaehо kicked off the floor and leaped upward, slashing diagonally.
His target was the wide-open joint inside its elbow.
Clang! Crack!
The sharp blade slipped through the softer gap and severed another mana circuit.
Two deadly strikes chained together within a split second.
Chaehо stepped away and moved outside the golem's attack range.
At the same time, an ugly grinding noise filled the cavern.
GRAAAAAH!
The golem staggered violently while letting out a rough, scraping scream.
With its right knee and left elbow no longer receiving power, it could barely remain standing.
Its weakened arm folded when it tried to support its body.
The massive monster crashed down to one side with a heavy thud.
Now little more than an enormous pile of rock, the golem desperately struggled to rise.
But once the mana flow had been severed, it couldn't easily restore the connection.
After scratching helplessly at the floor for a moment, the monster seemed to realize that it had completely lost its mobility.
It immediately reacted on instinct.
Crack, crunch... boom.
It pulled its arms and legs inward, curling itself tightly into a ball against the ground.
It was a primitive defensive response.
The golem was trying to protect the core mana stone inside its body with the thickest armor plates on its back.
Once it hardened itself into a lump of solid rock like this, breaking it apart from the outside was almost impossible.
But Chaehо simply lowered his sword and watched.
A faint smile appeared on his lips.
"You're digging your own grave."
The curled posture looked strong from the outside.
But it created one fatal blind spot.
The moment the golem forced its head inward and rounded its back, the thick armor plate protecting the back of its neck lifted upward.
As a result, the overlapping section between the neck and back opened up.
A large gap had appeared.
It was almost as if the golem had offered him the back of its neck on its own.
Chaehо didn't hesitate.
He kicked hard off the ground and launched himself into the air.
The moment he reached the golem's massive back, he activated his skill one last time.
His vision slowed.
Between the raised back plates, a red mana line pulsed brightly.
Chaehо reversed his grip on his sword and wrapped both hands firmly around the hilt.
He put the full weight of his falling body behind the blade.
It's over.
Time returned to its normal speed.
Chaehо's sword pierced through the narrow opening and plunged deep inside.
BOOOOOOM!
A massive explosion shook the entire cavern.
The tip of his sword had pierced perfectly through the joint behind the neck and shattered the red mana core inside.
The red glow leaking from the two holes in the golem's face flickered wildly.
Then it suddenly died.
Rumble... CRASH!
The massive body lost all power and could no longer maintain its shape.
It collapsed with a deafening roar.
Dozens of huge rocks rolled across the floor.
The upper-tier C-rank monster that had blocked his path with its overwhelming size only moments ago had completely disappeared.
Chaehо landed on top of the pile of rocks and breathed a little harder.
He flicked his sword, shaking off the stone dust clinging to the blade.
Then he wiped the sweat from his forehead with his sleeve and looked around.
With the sounds of battle gone, the cavern became quiet again.
And in that silence, the blue light covering the walls became even more noticeable.
Even though the fierce battle had cracked the ground and shaken the cavern, the mana stones embedded in the wall were completely undamaged.
They continued shining with a beautiful, clear glow.
Chaehо slid his sword back into its sheath and slowly approached the wall.
He ran his fingertips across the smooth surface of one mana stone.
A cool, pure current of mana passed through his skin.
There were easily several dozen mana stones within his field of vision alone.
How much would one of these be worth at this level of purity?
Even with a rough estimate, the value was far greater than what he would normally earn after clearing an entire C-rank dungeon.
If he mined every mana stone covering this wall, tens of millions of won would immediately enter his bank account.
During the days when he had worked as a porter, carrying other people's belongings around, this was an amount of money he wouldn't even have dared to imagine.
Chaehо opened his bag and checked the empty space.
Thanks to the packing skills he had learned while working as a porter, he could carry this many mana stones without much difficulty.
With this, I can replace Father's car with something sturdy that won't keep breaking down. I should buy them a dryer to put next to the new washing machine too. And if they need any treatment after their health checkup, I'll put some money aside so they won't have to worry about the cost.
He wasn't thinking about some massive building or a flashy sports car.
Instead, a list of things that could make his family's everyday life safer and more comfortable passed through his mind.
Even though his strength had risen to the point where the world itself seemed to slow before his eyes, and even with such a huge reward right in front of him, Chaehо didn't lose himself in excitement.
The power he now possessed was ultimately just a means to protect the simple, peaceful life he wanted to share with his family.
"Good. Time to get to work."
Chaehо rolled up his sleeves and crouched down properly in front of the wall.
He took out a small tool used for mining mana stones.
If he recklessly smashed the wall, the mana stones could crack.
So he needed to carefully dig away the softer material surrounding them.
He started with the mana stone shining the brightest between the solid layers of rock.
Scrape, scrape.
Soon, the cheerful sound of mining echoed peacefully through the blue-lit cavern.
Anything that could have interrupted him had long since been reduced to piles of dirt and stone across the floor.
He had plenty of time.
And the rewards were right in front of him.
"Came out nice and clean."
A large, softly glowing mana stone rolled neatly into his hand.
Chaehо rubbed it roughly against his jacket to wipe off the dirt, then pushed it into his bag.
Inside the silent cavern filled with scattered rocks, his hands moved without hesitation as he pushed the tool toward the next mana stone.
