The giant golem fired the magic cannons mounted on its shoulders in rapid succession.
Each shot harbored enough destructive force to spell disaster on a direct hit.
So I repeated my movements, teleporting to dodge as I went.
The stray shots streaked past and detonated against the structures behind me.
Whitewashed buildings burst apart one after another, and the cobblestones of the street were torn to shreds.
Reconstruction would require considerable time and resources.
While I surveyed the damage to the city, another barrage came hurtling toward me.
This time I attempted to deflect them with a web of magic, but the projectiles punched through before I could catch them.
The feel of them was different from ordinary magic cannons.
It seemed the warheads had been fitted with spell-breaking mechanisms.
Specialized ammunition designed for the giant golem's use.
Rather than trying to force a deflection, I would do better to focus entirely on evasion.
One direct hit and I would be blown to splinters.
The towering golem unleashed its bombardment without mercy.
With unrelenting rhythm and overwhelming firepower, it sought to kill me.
So brazen was its assault that I used magic amplification to call out to John.
"Don't you care about the damage to the city?"
"Ah, who gives a damn! It's not like I swore any loyalty to this kingdom!"
John answered without hesitation, positively gleeful.
A synchronized volley of shots tore clean through the buildings in a single sweep.
The house, now gaping with a massive hole, collapsed with a deafening roar.
"Well, in the first place, all the dead are your responsibility, aren't they? I haven't done anything wrong. That's what it means to proudly bear the banner of justice and fight openly."
John, deflecting all blame, laughs loudly.
There is no hint of a guilty conscience in him.
He made the golem raise one of its legs, and was about to stomp down.
I retreated, putting distance between us.
The descending steel foot crushed the building below.
The impact made the ground sink and deepened the cracks.
(What an utterly unreasonable man.)
This stands in stark contrast to his dominant personality, which had agonized over its pursuit of justice.
He was committing slaughter with full understanding of everything.
In a sense, he was likely a profound pragmatist.
If he could eliminate me, he would accept all other collateral damage.
Though in John's case, it was probably just that he had no interest in others.
He didn't care where or how anyone else died.
It was precisely this mindset that allowed him to wield the golem's power so unhesitatingly in the city.
To the people of the Technomancy Nation, it was the utmost nuisance, but they couldn't stop his actions.
In this capital, only the giant golem could stand against the Demon Lord.
The powerless people could do nothing but watch the battle's progress.
I fired a lightning strike at the golem's joint.
As expected, they were repelled by defensive magic and failed to cause any damage.
It seemed there was a constant barrier of strength that even surpassed grand magic.
"You're just wasting your time! We're not the ones getting tired here!"
The golem's torso contorted, revealing an enormous cannon stored within.
It emerged in a shape that seemed to jut directly from its body.
Magical energy gathered there, spiraling and rapidly increasing its output.
The instant the swell of power reached its peak, a beam was fired, aimed directly at me.
(Another tank shell, this time.)
I used multiple layers of defensive magic to deflect the beam.
The stray beam sliced in a straight line through the city.
Along its path, explosions chained together, causing even distant buildings to crumble.
According to my sensing magic, the evacuation area was also caught in the blast.
That single beam had claimed a significant number of lives.
Regardless of the immense damage, the golem continued to fire its tank cannon and magic cannon in rapid succession.
In the end, it even began firing beams from its fingertips.
I used teleportation magic to dodge them.
Although I was under constant assault, I still had room to maneuver for now.
(Since I'm abusing magic like this, my mana should have depleted long ago, but...)
I fixed my gaze on the giant golem.
Its surging magical power still showed no signs of running out.
The embedded secret stone was supplying it with endless magic power.
At this rate of consumption, it would likely never exceed the supply speed.
The city was on the brink of ruin from the golem's relentless assault.
Fires broke out everywhere, and most nearby buildings had collapsed.
Many of those who had evacuated were already dead.
We were fighting in a wasteland of rubble.
"Hahahaha! Running around like little insects, you'll be caught any— ...!?"
The golem, which was about to fire another beam, suddenly sat down hard on its rear.
Its wildly off-target beam shot up into the night sky.
It tried to stand up immediately, but its limbs were stiff and wouldn't cooperate.
Something was clearly wrong.
"No... I... This isn't allowed! I will... def-defeat the Demon Lord and save everyone— Damn it, are you kidding me!? Can't you see the situation!? Stop getting in my way!"
A voice driven by raw emotion echoed through the area.
It sounded like a monologue, but it wasn't.
The master personality was likely resisting.
It was trying to stop the golem that was slaughtering people.
They probably couldn't completely suppress each other's personalities.
Currently, within John Doe, two minds were in conflict.
Regardless, this was an opportunity like no other for me.
In that opening, I cast a restraint-class magic spell.
Expanding the range by expending a massive amount of magic.
Ivy sprouted from the ground, ensnaring the golem’s limbs.
Defensive magic was irrelevant.
It bound the entire form from the outside.
The golem smashed the vines with its cannonade, thrashing its limbs to tear the restraints apart.
Despite its annoyance at the clinging foliage, it managed to stand.
However, newly grown ivy surged to cover it once more.
"Tch! Is this the best you can do!? You're just wasting time!"
John sounded quite irritated.
He was struggling against the vines that grew endlessly.
Even with repeated beams fired at the ground, the restraints wouldn't stop.
He had no choice but to keep cutting or burning through them.
(I can't hear the main personality's voice. Has he managed to suppress it?)
All I could hear were John's curses.
His previously sluggish movements had improved.
I teleported directly above the golem.
Its cannon immediately swiveled and fired.
With no time to spare, I casually blocked it with a defensive spell.
As long as I deployed the barrier faster than it was destroyed, there was no issue.
I activated a forbidden spell right before the golem's eyes.
However, I used almost no mana, constructing the spell primarily from miasma.
From my fingertip, a needle-thin tube of pitch black extended.
It pierced through the defensive magic and stabbed into the golem's head.
This was possible because it contained high-purity miasma, and the pitch-black tube was compressed to its absolute limit.
By concentrating the spell to a single point, I was able to penetrate the golem's robust defenses.
I absorbed a minute amount of mana through the tube.
The moment I did, my body began to dissolve.
From my right shoulder down to my side, the bones crumbled.
It seemed the nature of the mana caused rejection.
The power of the Great Spirit and the miasma of the Demon King apparently had poor compatibility.
Ignoring my damaged body, I analyzed the mana I had absorbed.
I focused on examining the parts that were difficult to judge with the naked eye.
Grasping its nature was crucial.
It could be called fundamental to learning magic.
In combat, it proved useful on both offense and defense.
By adjusting the spell formula to match the mana's properties, my attacks could more easily pierce an opponent's defense, and the defenses I deployed became more robust.
"What are you doing?! Get away from me!"
As the golem's hand reached to grab me, I used Transfer to instantly distance myself.
However, I left the miasma tube behind.
I watched the approaching golem from a distance.
(The spell has already been cast. All that remains is to wait a little longer.)
Before long, a strange change occurred in the golem.
Its movements suddenly became sluggish, and it sank to one knee, halting.
"Hey... why have you stopped moving! Devil, what did you do?!"
John's enraged voice echoed.
This time, it wasn't a case of his personality becoming unstable.
This was a malfunction caused by the spell I had cast.
Detecting a large magical response from the stopped golem's head.
It was a tube of miasma.
It was swelling, siphoning the golem's magic power like nutrients.
Though dissolving from incompatibility, it was expanding at a rate that outpaced the melting.
Soon, the tube split into numerous branches, spreading outward.
Amid a succession of explosive sounds, flames flickered.
A black great tree grew and rose, bursting through the golem's head.