The undead giant discarded the remains of the head and placed a hand on the golem's arm that had pierced its torso. Then, with all its might, it snapped it off. The severed arm was thrown aside, rolling miserably across the rubble. "Stop! That's enough—" John's panicked voice rose. The giant's other hand, which had been about to fire a beam, was seized and twisted backward at the joint. The malfunctioning beam backfired, scorching the undead giant's front. Naturally, the undead giant didn't care. With a composed demeanor, it continued to rain down savage blows with its fists. The golem's chest caved in further, its internal mechanisms shattering. Blue liquid began gushing from various points. Whenever it showed signs of resistance, the undead giant flew into a rage and accelerated its attacks. The battle was rapidly turning into a one-sided rout. (Is this the end?) I observed from a distance and made my judgment. The golem had lost both arms and its head. Other parts were also being systematically destroyed; no room for a counterattack remained. It was simply waiting to be dismantled. Perhaps its voice amplification device was damaged, as John's voice could no longer be heard. Soon after, the undead giant's movements began to slow.
The contained power dissipated, and the flesh bubbled.
It melted away while emitting white smoke.
It had reached its operational limit.
Though I hadn't anticipated long-term combat, the depletion was faster than expected.
It was likely due to the several beams it had received.
Even though it could be repaired immediately, its nature was inherently repulsive.
Therefore, I assumed it had been forced to expend a large amount of miasma.
Still, it had fulfilled its role.
Thanks to the death giant's efforts, the golem was left in a half-destroyed state.
As performance, that was sufficient.
The golem lay collapsed and silent.
Had it become immobile due to the severe damage across its entire body?
It was starkly quiet compared to its resistance just moments ago.
(No, that's wrong)
I denied my own thought.
I honed my senses and focused on perception.
The power of the secret stone was not yet fading.
It remained connected to the golem, continuing its supply.
The mana wasn't distributed throughout most of the golem; it was concentrated only in the central part.
Specifically, around its controller, John.
At that moment, the golem's torso opened and something burst out.
It pierced straight through the death giant.
With a shattering roar, flesh and bone fragments scattered in all directions.
A smaller golem now soared through the air, having burst from the death giant's back.
It had a spherical torso with limbs attached.
It lacked anything resembling a head, giving it a stark, simplistic appearance.
Though "smaller" was only in comparison to the giant golem.
It was still roughly two sizes larger than a typical golem.
Easily taller than an ogre.
I detected both John and the secret stone within this smaller golem.
There was no mistake.
John was concealed inside the spherical section.
(It's an escape mechanism, then)
I looked at the hollowed-out shell of the giant golem and understood.
That spherical golem must have been an emergency contingency.
Under normal operation it served as the control unit; if the giant golem was destroyed, it could function independently like this.
As I drew this conclusion, the residual magical power within the giant golem began to behave ominously.
It was converging and swirling in one spot.
It was increasing output, ignoring any precise magic formulas.
The moment I sensed danger, a massive explosion erupted.
The undead giant mounted upon it was engulfed by the direct hit.
Before the earth-shaking impact, the colossal frame, constructed of corpses, was utterly shattered.
Meanwhile, the giant golem that had detonated was reduced to twisted metal wreckage.
It had completely lost its original form and was clearly no longer operational.
It blended in with the surrounding rubble, unrecognizable.
It seemed the giant golem possessed a self-destruction function.
A truly vicious capability.
If he had taken that blast at close range, it would have been far worse than a fatal wound.
Leaving it to the undead and choosing a ranged attack had been the correct decision.
"Raaagh!"
John's roar echoed, reverberating.
The spherical golem, jetting fire from its base, charged towards me.
A bit unstable, but moving at considerable speed.
In one hand, it gripped a spear of light.
A magic spear imbued with a holy attribute.
In its other hand, it held a shield formed by defensive magic.
(You still intend to defeat me? Admirable audacity.)
I acknowledged this with genuine admiration, while reaching for my waist.
There, a memento sword lay sheathed.
Its reach would have been insufficient against the giant golem, but for a sphere golem, it was just right.
"Die, Demon Lord!"
With a piercing battle cry, the golem's thrust was unleashed.
I evaded it by a hair's breadth, drawing my sword in the passing moment.
Using its momentum, I dragged the blade across the golem's surface.
"..."
I lowered my sword and turned back.
The golem maintained its altitude with jet boosters from its soles.
The spot I had slashed had cracked, billowing thick black smoke.
(Ah, shallower than I expected.)
It seemed that formidable defensive magic was embedded beneath its outer plating.
That must have deflected the angle of my blade.
It was designed to take damage while minimizing it as much as possible.
Despite its smaller size, the output of its internal spirit stones was unchanged.
Relatively, the spell's strength itself seemed to have increased.
Its attack range had narrowed, but in exchange, its durability had risen dramatically.
"You dare dodge about so trivially..."
The golem changed direction mid-air and came straight for me.
Riding its charging momentum, it unleashed another thrust.
(Crude. Below even a raw recruit.)
I watched the incoming thrust and thought.
This is not due to the golem's performance.
John's own lack of skill is vividly on display.
He's probably only learned the bare minimum of how to operate it.
I deflected the thrust with defensive magic, then stepped in to close the distance.
I swung my heirloom sword at the now wide-open golem.
"Ugh, you--!"
The golem jammed its shield in, but it didn't matter.
With a flash from my heirloom sword, I cleaved through its defensive magic shield.
In one fluid motion, I also severed the arm holding the spear.
"You did it, you bastard!"
The top of the spherical golem opened, and the barrel of a musket peeked out.
Just as I reset my stance, it fired.
"...!"
Countless pellets struck my entire body.
It had fired once, scattering its shot.
This must be to make evasion or defense more difficult.
Indeed, I managed to deflect most of them with my sword, but the rest hit my body.
Searing pain erupted across every point of impact.
The pellet shots must have been imbued with holy attributes.
Some of my bones had fractured from the impact.
However, that was all.
It lacked the power to render me incapacitated.
Numbness and pain would linger for a while, but the injury was within acceptable limits.
"A gun alone can't kill the Demon Lord."
Saying this, I seized the firearm with one hand wreathed in miasma and crushed it.
Then I hurled the golem to the ground.
The golem, unable to even brace for impact, crashed into a mound of rubble.
As it struggled to rise with sluggish movements, I bombarded it with consecutive high-level spells.
Extreme flames scorched it clean, lightning bolts descending from the sky burst upon it, and clouds of miasma assiduously corroded it.
Allowing no counterattack whatsoever, I simply continued my relentless pursuit.
(...That should be enough.)
Judging the moment, I halted my magic.
Smoke blanketed the surroundings, obscuring everything.
I used wind magic to sweep the smoke away.
Not a trace of what had been a town remained.
Even the rubble had been cleanly obliterated.
Only this immediate vicinity lay exposed as a barren stretch of wasteland.
"..."
Lying in the center of this transformed scene, the sole exception, was a spherical golem.
Its internal mechanisms were exposed and it was nearly completely destroyed, but it certainly still existed.
It had withstood the storm of the great magic.
With a sound of escaping air, the upper portion of the golem opened like a lid.
From within, a single man emerged.
Gazing up at us was John Doe, clad in reinforced armor.