At the bottom of the long staircase lay a room that was surprisingly vast.
It looked like something straight out of a video game dungeon—specifically, it had the distinct air of a boss room. And, as if to confirm that suspicion, a giant standing over two meters tall loomed within the darkness.
"Rest-san, this is..."
"Celestine, stay back."
Rest stepped forward, shielding Celestine behind him. He braced for an attack, but the massive figure remained motionless.
Upon closer inspection, it was neither human nor monster. It was a humanoid construct made entirely of iron.
"A golem..."
It was a magical robot—a product of high-level alchemy. These constructs were used for everything from menial labor to heavy combat. The methods for creating them were highly specialized and treated as classified information, known only to a select few.
『…………』
The golem stood in heavy, mechanical silence. Rest activated Life Search to see if it was broken, and he detected a faint, lingering trace of mana within its frame.
"It is clearly a combat model. I believe it is a defense-type golem designed to activate when someone approaches," Celestine noted from behind him. "There are various types, but even a simple model for chores like cleaning costs a hundred Large Gold Coins. A combat-ready version costs over a thousand to manufacture. Since it is far more efficient to simply hire human soldiers, they are rarely deployed."
"I see. That explains why we didn't see any during the war with Rodel and the Queen Dowager Faction."
A thousand Large Gold Coins was roughly equivalent to a billion Japanese Yen. It was simply more cost-effective to use that money to employ a thousand soldiers than to invest it in a single golem.
"Just curious, would that one cost a thousand too?"
"...That one is clearly a high-performance model. At worst, it might be worth ten times that amount."
"…………"
Ten thousand Large Gold Coins. Ten billion yen. A walking mountain of gold stood before him.
"How shall we proceed, Rest-san?"
"I'll take it down. I want to see what it's guarding."
The room was dark, making it difficult to see the layout, but someone wouldn't install a golem like this unless there was something worth protecting.
"Stay back so you don't get caught in the crossfire."
"Please, be careful."
Rest approached the golem slowly. Suddenly, the construct, which had been as still as a wooden puppet, swiveled its head toward him.
"Oh, it's awake."
"ROOOOOOOAR!"
With a mechanical groan, the golem raised a massive fist. It swung that iron weight down at Rest with crushing force.
"Hup!"
"[Earth Shield]!"
The wall Rest summoned blocked the impact, but a massive crack spiderwebbed through the stone instantly. A second punch pulverized the barrier into dust.
"[Wind Cutter]!"
He aimed a blade of wind at the golem’s knees. The strike hit home, but it was deflected harmlessly off the reinforced metal.
"ROOOOOOOAR!"
"Its offense and defense are exactly what they look like... alright then."
Even just having a massive hunk of iron moving was a threat in itself—it was essentially like being charged by a piece of heavy machinery.
"Well, I've got my ways of dealing with that."
"ROOOOOOOAR!"
The golem lunged after him as he leaped backward.
"[Mud Bullet]!"
Rest fired the spell at the ground beneath the construct's feet. Caught in the sudden patch of sludge, the golem lost its footing and stumbled.
"[Wind Ball]!"
He followed up by slamming a dozen spheres of compressed air into its head and chest. The cumulative force was enough to send the golem crashing onto its back.
"ROOOAR!"
"[Earth Bind]!"
Before it could recover, Rest manifested ropes of earth to pin it to the floor. The golem thrashed and struggled, but Rest poured a constant stream of mana into the soil to reinforce the restraints.
In a battle of endurance, the advantage belonged to the man with Infinite Mana.
"Roooo..."
After a few moments of violent resistance, the golem finally went still, its energy seemingly spent.