Being persuaded by the goblin, we made it to the top of the hill.
Apparently there was a super strong monster that had made this place its territory.
If I could skillfully combine it with a Bond Summon beast, I might be able to summon something amazing. I climbed the hill with such sweet hopes and soon encountered its owner.
"It's a golem——?!!" (Idhir)
The monster that had claimed the hilltop was a golem.
In conclusion, this was death.
I once slayed a wyvern and made headlines, but a golem was a much more dangerous opponent than that wyvern. At least in this world.
Its body was as hard as a mineral, or rather, it was a mineral itself. And yet its humanoid body was massive and agile, and when it swung its fists down, it looked like giant boulders falling from the sky.
Even in normal battles, it was a formidable opponent, but this steel giant was far smarter than the weaker beasts and had accurate judgment skills.
So even if I set a trap like I would against a wyvern, it wouldn't fall for it so easily. Golems, what a hassle!?
"Goblin, you bastard! How dare you throw me into this kind of death situation—!" (Idhir)
"But still, I thought you could defeat it!" (Goblin)
We ran away, yelling insults at each other and trying to shift the blame. Meanwhile the golem continued to stomp its thud on the ground as it pursued us.
Its movements were slow, but because of its large size, the length of each stride was different. If we didn't run at full speed, we would be caught up.
"Anyway, there's absolutely no way we can defeat that thing and make it our ally! It's impossible to even defeat it in the first place! We'll retreat and reconsider our strategy! Retreat!" (Idhir)
"Got itss!" (Goblin)
"Squeaeak!" (Slime)
The goblin and slime immediately agreed.
Because the opponent was a golem! I had certainly heard reports of golems roaming around in the Ideonyr Great Sea of Trees, but I never thought I would actually encounter one!
Each Golem had different functions, and what was even more troublesome was that they couldn't be dealt with based on prior information alone.
The golem showed no signs of chasing us as we fled. It just stood there motionless. Does this mean if we leave, it won't pursue it any further? If that were the case, I would have been relieved that my life had been spared, but I soon realized that this was not the case. The golem grabbed a large tree growing nearby with both hands, pulled it out, and picked it up...!?
No way...!?
"G-get out of the way!" (Idhir)
An instant after I screamed and turned around, a huge object started falling! It threw the fallen tree it had pulled out!?
"What incredible strength! What incredible power!" (Idhir)
If a fully grown giant tree were to be thrown at high speed and hit you, would your body be completely distorted?! Although this was on a hill, it was still within the Great Sea of Trees area, so there were countless other giant trees growing there. Does that mean there's infinite ammo left?
"Everyone...?!" (Idhir)
The goblin was...there. It seems you responded to my call earlier and successfully evaded it.
And the slime...
"Ahhhhhhhh!?" (Idhir)
"Squeak squeak squeak...!?" (Slime)
Did I fall headfirst when I turned around? Rolling backwards like that...?!
If this keeps up, we'll get trampled by the golem!
"Wait right there, I'm coming now——!!" (Idhir)
"Wait, boss! You'll get trampled by the golem too—!" (Goblin)
However, there was no option to abandon the slime and run away.
If I made a U-turn, the distance between me and the golem would be shorter. That meant I would be approaching death, but what was the point of living if I abandoned my allies?
"Squeaeak!" (Slime)
"Okay, retrieval complete!" (Idhir)
But by that time, the golem was right in front of us. Even if I tried to run away now, it would be impossible to shake it off.
If it comes to this...!
"Form a Bond!" (Idhir)
I cast the Bond Summoning contract spell at the golem. The contract was made.
"Yay!" (Idhir)
I thought that in order to make a pact with a Bond Summon beast, I first had to fight and defeat it, but... I could get a contract even if I didn't win!
I had a feeling that this might be the case. In fact, there had been cases where a player fought and won but was unable to get a contract, so maybe the opposite was also possible.
Once the contract was made, the golem crouched down on the spot and stopped moving. The light was gone from my eyes and it was as if I had stopped living. The growling sound that had been echoing from within, "Vrooom..." has also disappeared.
"Boss! Wow, that's amazing! You defeated the golem!" (Goblic)
"Squeaeaeaeaeaeaeak!!" (Slime)
My teammates were overjoyed, but strictly speaking, I couldn't call this a victory...
"But once the contract is made, this worthless piece of junk will have to do whatever its master says, right? I've practically won!" (Idhir)
No……. In the first place, the reason why I cast the contract spell on this guy was...
Because I thought I heard something like, "I want to obey" and "I want to be of service"...
It seemed as if that was the golem's will. So I ended up signing the contract without thinking.
"So, what happens from here?" (Idhir)
Although the contract was made, the golem hadn't made any moves since then. It was not like we made a contract and then it died.
I was curious so I took a closer look, and suddenly there was a response!
White smoke came out from its entire body and a loud "Bzzzzzzzzz!!" sound could be heard!
"He wasn't dead after all? Run away——!" (Goblin)
"Squeaeak——!?" (SLime)
My companions were shocked and run away.
Meanwhile, another change occurred within the golem. Its armor-like, all-metal body... its chest split down the center, and slid open like a door.
"The chest is open?!" (Idhir)
The golem's body opened up!? And then, when the golem was opened, something came out...!?
The one who came out was... a girl?!
A girl came out of the golem!?
"Thank you for registering as a Master. I am an all-situation automaton. Model number VOL-4071CX2." (Girl)
"Y-yes!?" (Idhir)
"Serving a master is an automaton's joy. I intend to use all of my abilities to assist my master. I look forward to working with you." (Girl)
"You're welcome!" (Idhir)
There were so many unexpected things happening that I couldn't comprehend it!
When I made a Bond Summon contract with the golem without winning, a girl came out of the golem!? And that girl had sworn loyalty to me?!
So this meant...
"Um... is it possible that you are the main body of that golem?" (Idhir)
"Yes... this is my module, the combat reinforced exterior model type: Gigant."
She said, pointing at the empty shell of the golem she had shed(?).
"The defining feature of the Gigant type is, without a doubt, its toughness. It is designed to withstand all kinds of attacks, and its durability and sustained activity are far superior to all other types. It also has the ability to absorb mana from the outside, so it doesn't need to be replenished with energy and can operate almost indefinitely." (Girl)
"Haaa...?!" (Idhir)
Oh no. I don't understand half of what's being explained.
I turned around as if asking for help, but the goblin and the slime just shook their heads at me. Right, isn't it? You guys don't understand either, do you?
Now, how should I treat this girl from now on?
"However, this module has already exceeded 18,420,516 hours of continuous operation, and deterioration over time has become unavoidable." (Girl)
"Huh? Eighteen million...? Huh!?" (Idhir)
"The performance is less than half of the catalog specs, so even if we make full use of these, it will be difficult to be of any use to the master...!" (Girl)
The girl looked dejected for some reason.
It seemed that the golem shell she was wearing had become quite old and was showing signs of wear.
But we were no match for that bastard and nearly got killed.
"……Ah" (Idhir)
I noticed something and activated Bond Summoning. Taking advantage of the bond I just formed with the girl...
Bond Summoning Lv11
> Bond: Automata
> Summonables:
- Reinforced Exterior Type: Gigant,
- Reinforced Exterior Type: Eagle,
- Reinforced Exterior Type: Orca
There are already some items?!
Translation Note
I'll change the slime's sound to "squeak" Number of "ea" will depend on the character ピ (pi) in the raw, but probably not the exact number. Previous chapters will be adjusted later.
This is the last post in March. Next, I'll post only 1 chapter per week. Probably on some occasions, I'll post twice in a week.