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The golem slowly raised its massive club shining in black luster. Slowly? Nay, it simply appeared that way because of its size, but it was actually surprisingly fast. The ground trembled under the weight of the weapon as it swung downward.

Lucella quickly assessed the situation and managed to dodge the attack with ease.

If the creature had aimed to hit both her and the young girl behind her, Lucella was determined to stop it at all costs. However, since the golem hadn’t come too close and seemed more focused on crushing only Lucella.

—Hmm? Is this guy trying to avoid getting the girl rolled up in this?

She wasn’t sure why it held back, but since it was attacking so halfheartedly, there might be an opportunity for counterattack.

Lucella quickly leaped onto the club itself using it as a springboard of sorts.

“Yah!’

Lucella sprinted up the golem’s arm and delivered a swift kick to its chin, causing it to recoil and produce a metallic sound. She had intended to twist its neck with that blow, but the golem began moving its head upwards.

“Kikiki…gigigigi……”
“Here! Come here!”

The creature produced an eerie creaking gear-like noise as it turned its head in Lucella’s direction.

As Lucella moved away from the girl, the golem ignored the girl’s presence entirely and focused solely on following Lucella. This time around, it placed both hands firmly on the club and swung horizontally, attempting to mow down everything in front of it.

Lucella leaped over the thunderous swing of the club with ease, but it didn’t end there.

“Gigaa!”

Without warning, the golem opened its mouth and spewed forth a massive fireball. It appeared to be a mechanism similar to that of a magic projection cannon, with the flames aimed directly at Lucella— even deviating from her jumping trajectory in an attempt to hit her.

“Uwah!” cried out Lucella as she was caught in the blast’s violent explosion.

The shock wave and raging flames knocked her down, sending her flying through the air like a kemari ball while leaving behind a trail of smoke. She bounced off the ground once before rolling safely on impact, scraping against it with both feet as she slid back to slow down.

“Damn… I’m so glad it was just fire,” muttered Lucella under her breath. “I see now… I can’t jump around carelessly when my opponent has ranged attacks.” Despite everything though, she remained practically unscathed by the attack.

Lucella’s body possessed an abnormal resistance to flames and magic, rendering her impervious to the fiery attack. Not a single hair on her head was singed by the flames.

The golem appeared unfazed by Lucella’s resilience, showing no signs of surprise or emotion. Nonetheless, it seemed capable of assessing the situation and refrained from using any further flame attacks. Instead, it raised its club high up in preparation for another strike.

“Good grief, you’re being reckless here!” exclaimed Ivar as he arrived at the scene after somehow crossing the river.

“Mr. Ivar, it’s too dangerous here!” warned Lucella.

“Don’t worry about me, I won’t die that easily! More importantly, I had to see this for myself,” replied Ivar with a sense of urgency in his voice. “Can’t you tell? This is most definitely a golem. Something big is going on!!”

It seemed that even Ivar had realized the truth behind the situation. It was indeed a golem, which meant there should be a user controlling it somewhere nearby.

This wasn’t some random coincidence or accident like running into wild monsters by chance; rather, it appeared to be an intentional incident or perhaps even part of some larger conspiracy.

For someone in his line of work, finding out the truth behind such events was crucial.

“Then stay near that girl! You most likely won’t be attacked there!” instructed Lucella, pointing towards the young girl who had taken shelter behind the ruins of a carriage.

“Gotcha!” replied Ivar as he quickly scurried over to her side.

Once she was certain that Ivar was safe, Lucella turned back to face the golem once more. She took a deep breath and focused on channeling all the dragon power within her body into the ground below.

“Burn!” she shouted with determination as flames erupted from beneath her feet. The ground cracked open, unleashing a crimson wave of fire that surged forward towards the golem like an unstoppable force.

The giant creature attempted to fight back but was soon engulfed by flames and reduced to nothing more than a burning ball of metal and leather. Despite this, however, Lucella couldn’t sense any significant damage based on its movements, even though its metallic frame lay exposed amidst burnt remnants of pelt and leather.

Shhhh……

“…I can’t output much power,” she murmured to herself. “Using Fire Breath here would be too hard.”

Despite her best efforts to strike and burn the golem’s internal mechanisms, it seemed as though her attack was too weak to cause any significant damage.

Unlike real dragons, Lucella didn’t possess an organ for releasing breath attacks. However, she could still manifest a pseudo-breath by manipulating natural factors. Unfortunately, Setuleve was a kingdom of water – which meant that fire-based abilities were at their weakest here.

The only exception was Mount Kuguse, a dormant volcano where Lucella’s flame powers could reach their full potential. But in this current location, her abilities were limited to just average flame spells.

“Gigigi-gi…”

“Kya!” cried out the young girl who had been observing their battle, letting out a stifled scream as she watched on.

Despite being engulfed in flames, the golem managed to break through and charge towards Lucella with its club raised high above its head. To any observers from the side, it might have seemed like Lucella was about to be crushed by the creature’s brute force.

However, at that very moment, Lucella leaped closer towards the golem and passed underneath its crotch. With lightning-fast reflexes, she reached out and pushed her hand into a tiny gap behind its right knee joint.

“Doryaaa!” she shouted triumphantly as she grabbed onto whatever she could find inside and pulled it out with all her strength.

With a tearing sound, a round part with something cylindrical attached to it came out from behind the golem’s right knee joint. The mythril wirings in its way were destroyed in the process, causing the giant creature to suddenly break posture and become sluggish

It attempted to swat Lucella away like an annoying fly, but her nimble movements made it seem dull and slow in comparison. She leaped over its upper body with ease before thrusting her hand into another joint and pulling out yet another component, much to the amazement of both the young girl and Ivar.

“A-Amazing…”
“She’s really nonsensical.”

Despite all this destruction, however, Lucella was growing increasingly frustrated.

—It’s just too tenacious… I can break whatever I can get my hands on, but it’s so huge that I can’t seem to reach its core no matter what.

The golem’s movements had grown awkward due to her attacks – but even so, it still managed to move around somehow.

Despite her superhuman strength, breaking through the heavy armor of the giant golem proved to be no easy task for Lucella. Her lack of weight made it difficult to use her body as a weapon, and she had no actual weapons on hand to make efficient use of her strength.

—the inside! I have to find a way to break it from within!…!

With that in mind, Lucella slipped past the golem’s giant arm as it tried to catch hold of her tiny form. She then jumped onto its shoulder and straddled its neck like she was on a shoulder ride.

“Behold, radiant wisdom! // I am one who destroys foment // the pinnacle of infallibility / a river of glass / beyond the reaches where the golden wheel ends //…!” Suddenly, Lucella began to chant an incantation for a spell.

“Geh… Hey, miss, this is dangerous, get down!” Ivar suddenly grew concerned and urged the girl to get down.

“E-Eh, w-what?” replied the young girl.

“Plug your ears, cover your eyes, and open your mouth!” Ivar instructed as he quickly prepared for what was about to come next.

Before departing on this trip, Lucella had properly studied a few spells, including one that would prove useful in this situation.

With lightning-fast reflexes, Lucella pushed back against the golem’s palm as it attempted to crush her in place. She then thrust one of her arms into its mouth just as she finished chanting:

“Scream, o child of grace!… ≪Ground Zero≫!!”

For an instant there was a sense of weightlessness before a deafening roar filled their ears. The explosion spell that Lucella had cast was released inside the golem’s stomach, blowing apart its armoring and scattering burnt gears and mechanical parts everywhere.

The pressure created by the blast couldn’t be contained within the creature’s metallic frame, resulting in a massive crater being formed where it once stood. The force of the explosion even threw Lucella high up into the sky before landing safely on the ground below with little harm done.

“Huh?” the young girl exclaimed in confusion as she watched on.

“You idiot!” Ivar suddenly yelled, emerging from behind a roadside tree. “You were just going on about how dangerous it was for us, and then you do that! Don’t use a crazy spell like that with noncombatants nearby!”

Lucella hung her head in shame. “S-Sorry,” she replied. “I didn’t prepare properly and failed to hold back.”

“Well, at least you managed to take it down thanks to that,” Ivar conceded begrudgingly before kicking the golem’s severed arm away in frustration. He then inspected the surrounding debris and shook his head in dismay, “Agh, look at this mess. How can I even begin to determine where it was made now that it’s nothing but ruins?”

“I used my caller to get in touch with the Adventurer’s Guild through the communications bureau,” he said grimly. “We really need to investigate this situation as soon as possible.”

“Thank you…” Lucella murmured quietly as she gazed upon what remained of the once-mighty golem – realizing that this incident was likely only just beginning.

On a hill quite some distance away from where the battle had taken place, Julian lay on the ground panting heavily. “Haa… haaaa… what was that! Why is that monster here?! Damn it, damn it, damn it! This can’t be real!”

In a fit of rage, Julian stood up and threw his magic binoculars down onto the ground before crushing them underfoot. The “Marquis group” —which had secretly entered Setulev— had been discussing their plans with the royal palace and were making their way towards the capital disguised as travelers.

Naturally, no one at the royal palace knew about their secret mission.

Their strategy had been going smoothly until this unexpected intruder showed up out of nowhere and ruined everything. Julian watched in horror as a single girl managed to reduce an anti-army combat golem into fragments, rendering all their previous efforts completely meaningless.

“M-Marquis, please calm yourself!” pleaded an imperial knight who was also disguised as a traveler.

“Shut up!” Julian barked back before punching the knight in anger.

“Gyaa!” The man cried out in pain and fell to the ground.

Julian breathed heavily as he tried to regain his composure. “Fuu…haa…my plan was perfect,” he muttered under his breath. “It was perfect – unlike my foolish father’s plans.” He shook his head in frustration. “Who could predict something so random? Damn it…”

The young Marquis scratched his head wildly while grinding his molars together with rage. His body was pulsing with a pure bloodthirst for Lucella, but he managed to keep himself composed enough not to act on it just yet.

“Haah…I’m perfect,” he finally declared after a moment of silence, determination flickering in his eyes. “I’ll change the plan next time and succeed for certain! Remember this! Heh, hehe. Hehehehe…”

A twisted smile spread across Julian’s face as he laughed to himself maniacally, failing even to register that some of his followers were trembling with fear at their leader’s sudden outburst of madness.