When they descended the long staircase, they found a room that was startlingly vast and spacious.
It was like a dungeon straight out of a video game. On top of that, the atmosphere was that of a boss room.
And then—as if to confirm that very atmosphere—the figure of a giant, standing over two meters tall, loomed before them.
"Rest, this is..."
"Celestine, stay back."
Rest shielded Celestine behind him and stepped forward.
He braced himself, but the massive figure at the end of his gaze did not move.
Upon closer inspection, it was neither human nor monster. It was an iron humanoid mass.
"A golem..."
It was a robot created by magic—a golem.
Born from the advanced sorcery known as alchemy, golems were used for menial labor, combat, and other purposes.
The methods for crafting them were highly specialized and a matter of classified knowledge. As such, only a select few people were aware of their existence.
"............"
The golem remained motionless, silent.
Wondering if it might be broken, Rest cast presence detection, and while faint, he could sense mana emanating from it.
"It is quite clearly a combat golem. I believe it is a defensive-type golem that attacks upon approach."
Celestine added from behind him.
"There are various types of golems, but even a simple one for tasks like cleaning costs a hundred large gold coins, and a combat model runs upwards of a thousand large gold coins or more. Hiring human soldiers is far more cost-effective, so they are not used all that often."
"I see. Now that you mention it, golems were not used in the war between Rodele and the queen dowager's faction either."
A thousand large gold coins... which meant that rather than spending a hundred million yen on a single golem, it was far more cost-effective to hire a thousand soldiers with that money.
"By the way, is that golem worth a thousand large gold coins too?"
"...That one is obviously high-end. If anything, it could cost ten times that much."
"............"
Ten thousand large gold coins. Ten billion yen.
A walking gold ingot stood before them.
"What would you like to do, Rest?"
"Well, I'll take it down. I'm curious what it's guarding."
The room was dark, and the golem's full form was hard to make out.
But the fact that a golem had been deliberately placed here meant there was something valuable worth protecting inside.
"Stay back so you don't get caught up in this."
"Please, be careful."
Rest slowly advanced toward the golem.
The moment he did, the golem — which had been standing still like a wooden puppet until now — turned its head and fixed its gaze on Rest.
"Oh, it moved."
"Ooooooooooh!"
With a guttural roar, the golem raised its fist.
A fist like a block of iron came crashing down toward Rest.
"Ooh!"
"[Earth Wall]!"
The wall Rest generated blocked the fist, but a single strike put a massive crack through it.
The second blow that followed immediately after shattered it to pieces.
"[Wind Blade]!"
He launched a blade of wind aimed at the golem's feet.
The precisely aimed strike hit the knee, but it bounced right off.
"Rooooaaarrrr!"
"So its offensive power and defensive power both match its appearance, huh… I see."
Come to think of it, a massive lump of iron moving on its own was plenty terrifying in its own right.
It was no different from heavy machinery charging straight at you.
"Well, there are ways to deal with that, I suppose."
"Rooooaaarrrr!"
As Rest leaped backward, the golem pressed in with a follow-up attack.
"[Mud Shot]!"
However, Rest aimed a spell right at the golem's feet.
Its feet caught in the clump of mud, and the golem lost its balance.
"[Wind Ball]!"
Then he slammed a dozen or so balls of wind into the golem's face and torso.
The finishing blow sent the golem toppling onto its back.
"Roarrr!"
"[Earth Bind]!"
And in that state, Rest manifested earthen ropes to restrain the golem.
The golem thrashed and struggled, but Rest simply kept pouring mana into the earth, reinforcing the bonds.
In a battle of attrition, the advantage lay with Rest, who possessed an infinite supply of mana.
"Oooh…"
After rampaging for a while, the golem eventually ceased all movement, as though its strength had finally given out.