Chapter 94: The Inflexible Gatekeeper

"There are many things I want to say and punch, but if you have a last will, I'll hear it now."

"If you're having trouble with the content of your will, leave it to me. I'll make you scream a magnificent death cry (will)."

Smiling brightly with a smile that even an amateur can tell is superb, fitting for someone whose job involves showing their face to people, but with my shoulders and arms firmly gripped by OiKatzo and Pencilgon—gripped firmly so I absolutely cannot escape—I ponder quite earnestly what to do.

For now, to buy time, I'll go with the cliché...

"Y-You guys, how did you find this place...!"

"Sunraku-kun, you shoved items into Inventoria, right? We'll have you spill the trick to getting such a massive amount of Crystal Scorpion materials later, but those monsters only spawn in Crystal Nest Cliff, you see."

"So that's how you tracked me... Careless..."

"Also, I sent emails to grasp the direction, and I had a hunch you'd be about two steps ahead of expectations so you'd probably be here already, but the decisive factor was..."

Where Pencilgon pointed, Emul was looking back and forth between me and Pencilgon's group in a flustered manner, perhaps unable to grasp the situation well.

"W-Was it bad that I guided them because they are Sunraku-san's acquaintances...?"

"Ah... Emul, remember this... These guys turn into enemies easily depending on the situation, so you have to be wary of them as potential enemies."

"Hahaha, isn't it just the relationship between me and you, Scapegoat?"

"That's right, both of you are precious pawns... I mean friends to me!"

Did you hear that, Emul? The operational method of these villains is basically disposable. They're like swords where the handle is also a blade; they're sharper than razors.

"Well, farce aside, there is a high probability that an item needed to fulfill the conditions for repairing the reactor is down below, so please bungee jump for now, OiKatzo."

"Alright, then let's jump down, Katzo-kun."

"Ah crap, I got aggroed!"

On the battlefield, the one who neglects hate management dies first. Our conversations are always killer passes.

"Well, fine..."

That aside. Having heard my reason for being here, OiKatzo ties a rope to the rubble and jumps into the hole spreading beyond the elevator doors with light movements.

The sound of sliding down the rope fades away, and after a while, OiKatzo climbs back up in a panic.

"Was something there?"

"A smart robot with a Wethermon-ish feel."

Silence.

"No no, surely not Wethermon-class. That guy alone guarantees a thirty-minute time constraint, you know?"

"Probably not as bad as Wethermon, but a golem giving off a strong 'High Mobility Type!' appeal was guarding the door."

It seems the so-called gatekeeper monster wasn't the Matryoshka from earlier, but that one.

Hearing the layout of the underground space and the gatekeeper's position from OiKatzo, we think about how to conquer it.

"By the way, who are that black rabbit and the cat in boots?"

"You ask well! I am the Sword Sai-"

"A Blacksmith and a Sword Saint derived from a Unique Scenario that OiKatzo-kun can't get even if he stretches his hand from his throat and makes gesture signs."

I'll just say the expressions OiKatzo and I made at that time were something Pencilgon would burst out laughing at.

"Anyway, nothing starts unless we go down and beat that high-mobility robot or whatever, so let's go."

Dissolving the party once is troublesome, so a mixed party of three humans and three animals is completed by adding the two to the animal party led by me.

"I see parties with NPCs often, but a party where half are animals is a first for me."

"Nice, Uniques are nice."

"Stop trying to push me into the hole so naturally."

Descending the rope for a dozen seconds, I (equipped with Animal Reactive Armor), having landed on the floor of the underground space where I would definitely have died if I just jumped, am surprised that brightness is secured despite being underground.

"Amazing, is this facility still alive?"

"It suddenly became very sci-fi, didn't it?"

"Says the one who got Powered Armor and Transforming Robots, what are you saying now?"

Following me, Pencilgon and OiKatzo descend into the underground space.

Probably not electricity. The power source is unknown, but the straight corridor is illuminated with light intensity equal to electric lights, something modern civilization (not Divine Age) probably can't reproduce.

And at the very end, in front of a door clearly separating some facility from the corridor, it was there.

"Straight-line fields are always honored as trash fields in any age... Aramis, can you reach that far?"

"If I restrain the power, it should reach, but finishing it in one hit would be impossible."

"No, hitting it is enough. We'll buy time, so close the distance in that opening and gang up on it."

Not knowing when it will start moving, we quickly discuss the strategy and build an impromptu coordination.

And the moment Aramis releases that slash wave which is ridiculously fast from startup to impact, I, with Emul on my head and buffs fully stacked, jump out simultaneously.

"Hahaha! Go go go!"

"Pyaaaaaah!!"

Reacting to the two biological responses (Me and Emul) approaching rapidly, It... a humanoid golem with four arms mounted on a jet-black body activates.

The upper two arms are raised forward, and an energy shield is deployed. As Aramis said, the slash wave with reduced power for range hits the barrier and is canceled out.

But that is a decoy. Using the slash wave as a shield, I jump into range and activate Vorpal Blade Arts [Water Mirror Moon] Third Form. The Four-Armed Golem, slashed in the back, turns around with swift movements that betray its age.

"Emul."

"Yes sir!"

At this timing, Emul separates. Leaving Emul right in front of the Four-Armed Golem, I run to the wall.

I've experienced this kind of narrow straight stage many times. The passage gets filled with lasers clearly thicker than the area's width, the enemy swipes with its tail clipping through polygons while I suffer from the narrowness, or simply getting blocked and pincered by the enemy's bulk...... Ah, I'm getting angry.

"Wall running is a mandatory skill!"

Six-Boat Leap activated. Jumping to the wall, the moment my feet touch the wall, Ricochet Step activates.

The true value of this skill, "being able to kick off walls and ceilings like a ricochet as the skill level rises," hasn't been fully realized yet, but one Ricochet is enough to get behind it.

Matching the timing of me stepping off the wall and jumping, Emul attacks the Four-Armed Golem. The Four-Armed Golem, whose hate became neutral due to [Water Mirror Moon], targets Emul...

"Uwoh!?"

The moment I circle behind, all four arms point their palms at me simultaneously. I see, so prioritize eliminating the guy approaching the door!

Lasers are fired from the palms of the Four-Armed Golem, which are twice the size of a human's and embedded with some kind of small reactor.

Fortunately, all of them aimed straightforwardly at where I was, so dodging itself is easy. If this were the type that irradiates the evasion destination, damage would have been unavoidable.

"However... Me alone vs the other five, which should you prioritize?"

"All or Nothing (Kenkon Itteki)!"

Tearing through the sky, a golden spear fired consuming all of Pencilgon's stamina flies over Emul's head and pierces the Four-Armed Golem's stomach.

"Yellow, Green, Double Mix [Fist Aura 'Young Grass Impact']... Point Striker!"

Furthermore, readying a fist clad in fresh green effects, OiKatzo closes in on the butt end of the spear. Marking with a left jab, slamming a right strike. The fact that it takes effort means it can produce commensurate firepower.

The Four-Armed Golem tries to turn its arms toward OiKatzo, the threat right in front of it, but...

"Now then, I wonder what mechanism this door has... Do you know 'He who chases two rabbits catches neither'?"

The Four-Armed Golem, whose reason for existence is protecting the door, directs its hate again at me touching the door petari.

And OiKatzo's fist crashes into the spear butt. Due to the impact, the Four-Armed Golem is pushed toward the door.

"Move it, you man and woman there."

"Oh my, my gender is exposed."

"Titan... Blast!"

The impact of the hammer slammed in for good measure. The golden spear tip, finally piercing through the sturdy body of the Four-Armed Golem, breaks through the back armor and heads straight for me behind it... wait

"Close one!!"

"Mu, sorry Bird Person."

"If you were skewered, I was going to laugh and call you Yakitori."

"Who can eat Negima with such a metallic Negi (green onion) stuck in it!"

"Buhu! Pu, kukuku... Metallic Negima... fufufu."

Unexpectedly, a stray bullet hits Pencilgon clean. Glaring with half-closed eyes at Pencilgon who turns away suppressing laughter, I kick the back of the knee of the golem which started to short-circuit.

If it were braced, maybe, but in its current state with its stomach pierced, normal judgment seems impossible. The Four-Armed Golem easily tilts forward, kneeling and scattering sparks.

And with its head lowered to just the right height, this time Aramis's strike, fired without reducing power, hits the Four-Armed Golem's face.

Like an ice pick shattering ice, the strike honed to the limit cracks the Four-Armed Golem's entire body.

"Yes, I am the Sword Saint! Wild Win-"

"Ah, skip that."

"Ehhh!?"

It's too long every single time.