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A thunderous roar echoed through the surroundings.

The air shook, and I was only a few meters away from the place that had become the blast center.

I confirmed the sight of Diera looking up at me with an astonished expression, and Rena, who had taken fragments scattered by the explosion, bleeding from her head and unconscious.

(She’s breathing. They’re both safe, then.)

After confirming their survival and condition, pain slowly spread through my entire body, and I reflexively clenched my teeth.

Just before the golem self-destructed, I kicked apart the hand gripping my arm and leapt back while holding the two on my back and in my palm as if covering them.

As a result, some of the fragments had grazed Rena, but judging from the amount of bleeding and the location, I determined that her life was not in danger.

As for Boobs Lady, I could see no external wounds other than the injury on her thigh.

The problem was my back, which had taken the self-destruct attack head-on, even though I had managed to put some distance between us.

(My back should be highly durable, but…)

Judging from the pain I felt, there was no doubt I had taken considerable damage.

When I looked behind me, smoke and flames were rising, blocking my view, and I could infer that it had been a weapon with a powerful explosive built into it.

I wanted to see the face of the developer who made something this ridiculous.

Between this and my homeland, I wanted to complain, “Do you people not feel satisfied unless you make things explode?”

“Argos…”

Boobs Lady muttered, confused because I had protected her.

But I had no time to respond to that murmur.

I pointed with my chin at Rena, whom I had laid down, as if telling her to watch that side, then stood up and began walking toward the enemy.

At the same time, the smoke and flames obstructing my vision were swept away by a gust of wind.

“Oh? You survived that?”

The noble in front of the golems tapped a small wand in his hand against his palm.

He was probably the one who had blown the smoke away.

For the time being, I deliberately made a gesture as if brushing dust from my body in return and calmly gave my impression.

“As an attack, it was not bad. However, it is not a method worth reducing your numerical advantage for.”

Since he had been wearing a smug expression, I gave it a scathing evaluation as tactically low-value, with various meanings included.

Given how much he talked down to others, it seemed he was bad at being denied.

His expression changed blatantly, so I would use that as the axis to shake him.

I could not see the state of my injuries, but with my regenerative ability, there was meaning in buying time.

“Now then, come at me. It seems there are still many things I can test.”

I was still above them.

As if saying that they were the challengers, I spread both arms and provoked them with a “come at me from anywhere.”

I heard an irritated tongue click, and the nobleman sent a glance behind him.

There were nine golems remaining, but one of them was moving sluggishly, probably because of damage.

If not for the support of the mages behind them, I should be able to destroy it, but the problem was how to deal with that.

Facing the three golems that came forward, I dodged the incoming fists, hooked their legs from the inside, and pushed their upper bodies down to throw them to the ground.

I succeeded in easily tripping the first one, and despite interference, I similarly knocked down the second, but the third became wary and stepped back just before I could grapple it.

“As expected, human-shaped opponents are vulnerable to anti-personnel techniques. Interesting. Increase the number next.”

I’m not just about power, you know, I thought, showing off the self-defense techniques I had learned in school and provoking them further.

“—!”

That was why I said not to speak in your native language.

He was probably saying something like “Don’t get carried away!” but since I did not understand it, it took up time in my thoughts.

Attack spells were fired at me one after another… but I would have to say that was a bad move.

Because one of the two golems lying near me, after I showed them that I could block every single one, had been destroyed in a miserable state.

If the mages were not going to focus on defense, then this was all it took.

The other one was also slowly getting up, but I was not so soft as to allow that.

When I slammed a full-power blow into its chest, the shattered golem’s upper body scattered like buckshot.

The mages had been beyond it, but since the remaining golem had been in a position to move between them, it ended with no damage done.

“I see. Destroying the head, or damage beyond a certain level, makes self-destruction impossible.”

I said that at random because it had not exploded right after I broke it, but apparently that was correct, and the mages seemed shaken.

The nobleman shouted them into silence, but more than half of the mages were clearly wearing dissatisfied expressions.

They appeared to have lost morale, so I closed the distance to shift to the offensive.

“You have done well for a mere monster. I shall praise you for that.”

With those words, one golem surged forward.

Amid the formation advancing toward me, a strangely well-moving unit suddenly appeared.

Apparently, that noble was controlling it, and it was clearly moving at a different speed from the others, linked to the exaggerated movements of his wand.

But even so, there was no way it could keep up with my movements, and I easily succeeded in driving in a counterblow.

However, the sensation of hitting it was abnormal.

(Magic defense again!)

The sensation was hard… or rather, too hard, and I instinctively took some distance.

Since I also needed to move in a way that prevented encirclement, backing away was fine, but reducing the distance to the two behind me was not good.

And the situation worsened further.

Another golem with different movements appeared.

I had forgotten, but the man in front of me was not the only one dressed like a noble.

Moreover, even though they looked exactly the same, their performance was subtly different. If the golem I was currently facing was defense-oriented, then the newly appearing one was speed-oriented.

With the bonus that they also coordinated in a low-key way, its entry into the fight visibly tilted the battle situation.

I parried attacks and counterattacked, but none became effective hits, forcing me into exhaustion against the two golems before me.

I had to fight while staying aware of the remaining five trying to form an encirclement to block my escape route, and while also paying attention to the two who could not move.

I was at a disadvantage—I clearly recognized that when I saw the red puddle wetting the ground.

When I saw it, I finally understood just how badly injured my back was.

Only now did I realize I had taken enough damage that regeneration still had not finished, and the blood flowing out had formed a pool.

I heard something fall into the puddle.

It was not the sound of liquid falling, but the sound of the ground and something hard colliding, so I guessed it was a fragment that had been lodged in my back falling out.

(I see. The bleeding didn’t stop because the fragments were gradually being pushed out by regeneration.)

I understood the reason for the bleeding, but the blood I had lost would not come back.

That said, it was not that much for my huge body to shed.

It did not hinder my movements, and I even had enough room to wonder if I could use it for something.

I was grateful that my emotion-suppression function always maintained a calm state for me.

However, the battle situation did not improve, with the two golems controlled by nobles and the obstruction from the mages stationed behind them.

On top of that, even the remaining golems began attacking me as I was forced into a purely defensive position.

“This is bad,” I thought, taking distance as if protecting both arms, where damage had accumulated from repeated guarding.

But that was the limit point.

Behind me were two people who could not move, and countless attack spells were fired as if pursuing me when I backed away.

Flames, stone shards, ice arrows.

I dealt with all of them without letting a single one pass behind me.

That was undoubtedly a blunder.

I had knocked down an ice arrow that probably would have passed through behind me.

The fact that I had continued moving as if they were targets to protect had backfired on me.

Precisely because I had understood the risk of that being discovered, I had kept using tricks to hide it until now, but that had just collapsed.

This was a scene where I should have trusted that she could handle it.

If it had not been found out, there would have been no problem.

But the man was hiding a smile with his hand over his mouth.

And at the tip of the wand he pointed were Diera, unable to move properly due to the injury in her leg, and Rena, still unconscious.

I crushed the fired flame bullet with the back of my hand as if knocking it down.

“Oh my, oh my, oh my? What could this be?”

The nobleman laughed, raising the corners of his mouth.

“So she was colluding with a monster, just as expected. Tainted blood truly is beyond saving. That is more than enough reason to dispose of her.”

In front of the man laughing aloud, I showed no reaction at all to those words.

If I engaged with him, it would be exactly what he wanted—then I should take the conversation in a completely unrelated direction.

“Do you know what the simplest and most powerful force in this world is?”

It was a forced change of topic, but it was also a question suited to the situation.

Ignoring the man whose irritation was showing on his face, I showed the correct answer through action since he did not answer.

“Potential energy.”

I lowered my posture and, at the same time as thrusting both hands into the ground, launched the riverside rocks into the sky together with the soil.

If I overturned the ground almost directly upward with this physical strength, I could gain a height of several dozen meters.

Then how much power would the falling rocks and stones have from there?

Almost everyone looked up at the rocks and soil dancing through the air at my outlandish action.

During that opening, I shifted sideways and added more reservations for bombardment.

Perhaps sensing my objective, two golems came toward me, but it was already too late.

I clashed head-on with the two golems, and a contest of strength began.

To begin with, I was not losing in power.

If it was only for the time until the falling objects struck the ground, buying that much time was easy.

Complaints came flying from behind me, but there was no emotion of blame in them.

In other words, it was probably something like, “What the hell are you thinking?! Do more!”

Then came the impacts—at that moment, every mage used magic to protect themselves.

“Gaaahhhhh!”

A barrage of blows in dual-handed Assault Mode, without considering the recoil, smashed the two golems standing in my way in the blink of an eye.

The sounds of hard fists striking stone golems and rocks striking the ground rang out.

At the same time that the storm settled, I ran forward.

My target was one person alone—that nobleman.

Leaning forward, I ran using both hands and feet, but the enemy’s reaction was fast.

Right before I came close enough for my hand to reach him, I was blocked by an invisible wall.

I destroyed the barrier with my fist, but my feet stopped.

I took one more step forward, but in front of me, the man was smiling with his wand pointed at me.

Needless to say, I had been one move short, and if he bought time here, the remaining golems would stand in my way.

Thinking the same method would work repeatedly would be underestimating the opponent too much.

Now that the number of golems had decreased, he would at least think of dividing roles.

However, in this situation, I also opened my mouth and laughed.

The move I had prepared right before I dashed would not let this chance escape.

She had been just barely behind me.

If so, there was no reason not to bring her along.

“—, —!”

Even with her injured leg, she ran up my back, kicked off my shoulder, and flew, thrusting out her right arm.

The amulet held in that hand emitted a powerful light, and that became a single sword.

The sword emitting a strong light extended straight forward, and it severed the nobleman’s arm, the one holding his wand as he tried to dodge, from the base.