Chapter 31

Several days had passed since we arrived at the Seaside City Leila.

At first, since it was my first time seeing the sea, I enjoyed it as if I were on vacation, but that feeling couldn’t last forever.

My companions and I were professional adventurers, and as professionals, we had to take responsibility and finish the job we were given.

For that reason, after finishing breakfast with the addictive Clam Chowder, I subtly brought up the main topic while the two were discussing what to do next.

“So, we can’t delay any longer. As professional adventurers, we must take responsibility and quickly cook the Sea Golem…”

Oops.

“…”

“…”

“…We must defeat it.”

“You definitely said ‘cook’ just now! You said ‘cook’!”

“It’s a kind of metaphor.”

“That wasn’t a metaphor, it was completely literal!”

Sigh.

They’re nitpicking over something so trivial.

“What’s the problem? You whined about not being able to eat the Clam Chowder at first, but now you’re eating it just fine.”

“That’s because clams are clams! But lobsters are bugs!”

“No, they’re completely different. How are they bugs?”

At my words, Mari frowned in dissatisfaction.

Then, in a tone like a kindergarten teacher explaining something slowly to a child, she spoke.

Suddenly being talked to so gently just made me more annoyed.

“Mr. Kurt, lobsters have antennae, right?”

“Yes.”

“How many legs do lobsters have?”

“Hmm, I’m not sure, but more than ten?”

Lobsters have two visible claws and eight legs for movement, but they also have small jaw legs in front of the claws and swimmerets hidden on their abdomen.

“And they’re covered in a hard shell, right?”

“Of course. Otherwise, they wouldn’t be called crustaceans.”

“They’re totally bugs!”

“That’s different!”

“Waaah! Ms. Karina! Mr. Kurt is trying to make me eat bugs!”

“Poor Marisia…”

She really hates anything to do with Sea Golems…

She’s desperately trying to avoid eating it.

…Wait.

“So, you two have been going to the beach these past few days not because you were excited to see the sea for the first time, but to delay the Sea Golem hunt as much as possible?”

Gulp.

At my words, the two froze as if I had hit the nail on the head, and I finally realized that their outings weren’t to enjoy the seaside city but to postpone the Sea Golem hunt like kids putting off their homework until the last day of vacation.

These guys…

So, dragging the two who were throwing a tantrum about not wanting to go, I left the inn to officially start hunting the Sea Golem.

—

*Clang!*

Karina’s Battle Axe only left a slight scratch on the Sea Golem’s shell, failing to deliver a fatal blow.

“An aura-infused attack is this easily…!”

Karina was surprised that her attack was so easily blocked, but there was no time to dwell on it.

The Sea Golem, angered by her axe swing, swung its claw at her.

*Screech…*

The monster’s claw, easily 4-5 meters long, was like a blunt weapon the size of a human torso.

The Sea Golem’s form was that of a massive lobster with thick, hard armor, living up to its name.

Unlike a regular lobster’s smooth shell, the Sea Golem’s shell was uneven and irregular, as if rocks had been haphazardly plastered onto its body.

Because of this, despite having a similar skeletal structure to a lobster, it looked like a golem clumsily assembled by a mage.

No wonder it’s called a Sea Golem with that appearance.

Karina quickly pulled back her Battle Axe and retreated out of the Sea Golem’s range.

Fortunately, while the shell was tough, the creature’s speed was relatively slow, making it easy to dodge.

That was at least a saving grace.

With her Battle Axe in hand, Karina, now out of the Sea Golem’s reach, spoke with a troubled expression.

“An aura-infused attack didn’t work… I heard the Sea Golem’s shell was tough, but I didn’t expect it to be this bad…”

“…My arrows aren’t working either.”

Well, of course.

If an aura-infused attack didn’t work, regular arrows wouldn’t either.

We had come to a beach slightly away from the city, where Sea Golems were known to appear.

Despite their passionate arguments about not wanting to eat Sea Golem dishes, the two were very enthusiastic about hunting the Sea Golem.

This was because, while they didn’t want to eat Sea Golem dishes, they were very positive about the hunt itself when I first proposed it.

In fact, they had recommended taking on this request before I suggested cooking the Sea Golem.

Thinking this, I watched the two fight from a distance.

If I joined in, it would be over quickly, but for some reason, they insisted that I only help when things got dangerous, saying they wouldn’t gain any experience as adventurers otherwise.

Thanks to that, even though we had come to the hunting grounds, I was left with nothing to do. Still, it was good to see the two challenging themselves with determination, so I kept myself ready to jump in at any moment while casually trimming some nearby branches and watching their battle.

As I watched them, they seemed to have come up with some strategy and charged at the Sea Golem again.

*Screech…*

The Sea Golem slowly swung its claw at Karina as she approached.

The claw pushed aside the sand on the beach threateningly, but Karina, as a human capable of wielding aura, was a transcendent being who could handle such attacks.

For an ordinary person, it would be like being hit by a truck and sent flying, but for Karina, it was slow enough to dodge easily.

Karina leaped high, using the claw as a stepping stone, and raised her Battle Axe high.

But the Sea Golem, seeing the blue aura gathering on Karina’s axe, showed no sign of threat or caution, only irritation.

Soon, Karina’s Battle Axe fell like a guillotine’s blade, and this attack produced a different result from her previous attempts.

*Thud!*

Instead of the sharp metallic clang of iron hitting iron, it was a dull sound of the blade cutting into flesh.

─────!

With that sound, blue blood sprayed from the Sea Golem, drenching Karina, and the Sea Golem, realizing the situation a beat late, twisted its body in a spasm.

“Hahaha. Finally, a proper reaction!”

“Nice!”

Karina’s strategy was simple: if an aura-infused attack couldn’t break the shell, then target a different part from the start.

Specifically, the joints between the shell segments.

The enraged Sea Golem tried to lift the claw Karina was standing on to shake her off, but that was a mistake. The Battle Axe was already deeply embedded, and the half-severed arm couldn’t support its own weight, causing the wound to tear further.

────!

The Sea Golem, screaming silently, completely lost its composure and tried desperately to kill Karina, but with one claw lost and its weakness exposed, catching her was impossible.

To make matters worse, Mari’s arrows, fired from a distance, accurately pierced the Sea Golem’s eyes, further increasing its injuries.

Finally, with both claws and eyes destroyed, the Sea Golem tried to flee, but it was too late.

Before its body could fully submerge in the water, Karina’s Battle Axe mercilessly severed the joints of its remaining legs, and the Sea Golem, flailing with its broken legs, was completely immobilized by a Hand Axe driven into the gap of its head shell.

Hmm. Just as the branch I was trimming was about to become a decent spear.

It ended faster than I thought.

“Phew… An enemy that can’t be damaged even with aura-infused attacks. That was a tough one.”

“Amazing! Ms. Karina!”

“No, it was thanks to Marisia’s excellent support. To shoot the Sea Golem’s eyes so accurately from that distance without missing. Your archery skills are incredible.”

“Hehe.”

“I thought it would take longer. Impressive.”

I approached the two, who were washing the blue blood off Karina’s body with seawater, and said:

“Hoo hoo hoo! We did it! ‘We’ did it! Mr. Kurt!”

“Yeah, I saw. Now we just need to transport this guy to the guild.”

“Ah, right. Mr. Kurt, you were just watching from afar and playing with branches, so you have no share in this.”

There’s a bit of a sting in those words.

Well, they’re just excited that they took down the Sea Golem themselves.

Thinking that, I praised them for their hard work and then said:

“Alright. So, what dish should we make with this guy? It’s bigger than it looks, so just one claw should be enough.”

“No. We’re not eating Sea Golem dishes.”

“What? What do you mean?”

“This Sea Golem was caught by the two of us. So, sorry Mr. Kurt, but we’ll decide how to handle it.”

“Ah, don’t worry. We’ll split the reward fairly.”

Ah.

So, they were so eager to hunt the Sea Golem because they planned to exclude me from the start.

No wonder they were so enthusiastic.

But in the hunter’s world, the right to decide what to do with the prey belongs to those who caught it.

Since I didn’t participate in the hunt, I couldn’t tell them what to do.

I raised my hands in surrender and said:

“Alright. If that’s what you two want, then ‘that Sea Golem’ is yours to handle as you wish.”

Not expecting me to back down so easily, Mari and Karina smiled brightly and cheered.

“Really, Mr. Kurt!”

“You won’t go back on your word later, right?”

“Sure. I’ll just catch another Sea Golem.”

“…Huh?”

“…What do you mean?”

At my words, the two froze, their smiles still on their faces, and only their mouths moved as they asked again.

Hoping they had misheard.

But I just smiled silently in response to their hopeful gazes.

Finally sensing something was wrong, Mari desperately tried to come up with an excuse.

“But it’s already getting late.”

“Don’t worry. I’ll catch one quickly.”

“M-Mr. Kurt?”

I gently avoided Mari’s attempt to grab my sleeve and looked at a Sea Golem visible in the distance.

That one looks good.

“Want to see a magic trick?”

“N-No! It’s fine! I don’t really want to see it!”

“No need to be shy.”

Having chosen my target, I closed the 20-meter gap in a single leap.

Then, I infused the makeshift wooden spear with aura…

“No way…! The Sea Golem’s shell can’t be pierced by aura…!”

If there’s something aura can’t pierce, maybe you should consider whether your aura was insufficient?

The aura on Karina’s Battle Axe was a faint blue with a blurry boundary.

But the aura on my wooden spear had a clear, distinct boundary and a deep blue color.

And then, before the Sea Golem could react, I drove the aura-infused spear downward.

*Thud!*

Along with that sound, a hole as if drilled appeared in the Sea Golem’s head shell, and the spear plunged deep inside.

Just like that, the Sea Golem died instantly without even feeling pain.

“…”

“…”

Ta-da! The disappearing wooden spear trick!

---