TRGBM 19

Episode 19

019. Do You Intend to Kill Them All?

Crunch!

Whoosh-

Crack-

golden hand advanced, making eerie sounds.
The deeper he went into the complex cave, the more bizarre the dungeon’s atmosphere became.

Spider-type golems hanging from walls and ceilings to ambush.
Drill golems popping up from the floor to target ankles.
Even bomb golems attempting self-destruction.

The ancient golems emerging from the dungeon were more diverse than imagined.
However, they seemed to have evolved maliciously, as if specialized in killing players—no, killing people.

‘Did he… use this as a testing ground? That’s impossible unless you’re insane. Does he intend to kill all his disciples?’

Ravi’s claim that this place was used as a testing ground seemed increasingly less credible.
No matter how you looked at it, this wasn’t a place for tests.
A place filled with ancient golems harboring malice towards people.
Too dangerous a place to use for examinations.

But such malice was ineffective against golden hand.
Because no golem could escape the eye of ‘Resolute Intuition.’

[Level has increased! Lv. 12]
[Gained an additional 100% Experience.]
[Resolute Intuition skill has reached Lv.5.]
.
.
.
[Divine Dexterity skill has reached Lv.3.]
[Level has increased! Lv. 15]

Amidst a storm of level-ups, golden hand meticulously gathered the loot that dropped whenever golems were destroyed.
The time spent collecting loot was longer than the time spent fighting.

Of course, most were miscellaneous parts or low-grade mana stones.
Nothing extraordinary dropped.
But occasionally, special items were mixed in.

[Gear-Wheel Sentinel destroyed.]
[Acquired ‘Old Power Gear.’]
[Acquired ‘Forgotten Ancient Schematic Fragment.’ (1/10)]

“Oh?”

golden hand eyes sparkled at the unfamiliar message.
He picked up a tattered parchment fragment.
Faintly remaining letters and complex circuit diagrams.

Although it was just a fragment, the level of technology contained within was extraordinary at a glance.

‘So this is the core of this dungeon.’

It didn’t seem like a dungeon where you just destroy murder-mechanized ancient golems, kill the boss, and it ends.
Completing the hidden schematic.

Whether Ravi intended it or not, that must be the true goal of this dungeon.
golden hand began exploring the dungeon even more carefully.
He no longer mindlessly destroyed golems.

Using ‘Resolute Intuition,’ he examined the golems’ internal structures, how they operated.
He observed what principles they worked on.
He also began selectively hunting entities with a higher probability of carrying schematic fragments.

[Drill Golem destroyed.]
[Level has increased! Lv. 16]
[Acquired ‘Forgotten Ancient Schematic Fragment.’ (2/10)]
.
.
.
[Spider-Type Golem destroyed.]
[Low-Grade Regeneration skill has reached Lv.4.]
[Level has increased! Lv. 19]
[Acquired ‘Forgotten Ancient Schematic Fragment.’ (9/10)]

Whether it was due to his selection or simply the sheer number of golems destroyed, golden hand had gathered nine fragments before he knew it.

‘The final piece… won’t come out?’

But the tenth and final fragment didn’t appear for a while, no matter how much he hunted.
It seemed the final piece was most likely held by the dungeon’s final boss.

Eventually, golden hand moved to the deepest part of the dungeon, a vast circular space.
In the center of the space, a mountain-like pile of scrap metal was stacked, and atop it, a colossal golem with a single flashing red eye reigned like a king upon a throne.

[Gear-Wheel Tyrant Lv.40]

It was the dungeon’s final boss.
A figure so massive and imposing it was incomparable to the other golems nearby.
Its entire body was covered in thick armor, and its arms were equipped with a giant rotating saw and a flamethrower.

And behind it.
As if the Gear-Wheel Tyrant was protecting it, something hidden.

‘That’s… the Ancient Heart Ravi mentioned.’

Beyond the Gear-Wheel Tyrant’s body, a giant red gem pulsed like a heart.
The core that formed the dungeon and supplied power to all golems.
That must be the Ancient Heart Ravi spoke of.

‘Do I just need to destroy that? But… its condition seems strange.’

The red, pulsating core.
But according to golden hand’s knowledge, a normal core was blue.
A blindingly bright blue was the characteristic of a core.

Yet the Ancient Heart, the dungeon’s core.
It was glowing red.
As if it were overheating.
It looked like it was running rampant, ready to burst at any moment.
Moreover, the red light flickered unstably, and even fine mana cracks seemed visible around it.

‘It’s definitely malfunctioning. So that’s why… the golems couldn’t self-repair?’

golden hand intuited it.
The golems’ hostility was too high for a mere testing ground.
And the fact the golems couldn’t self-repair.
All those problems must have arisen from that broken core, that broken Ancient Heart.

Kroooooo-!

But golden hand’s thoughts about the core didn’t last long.
The Gear-Wheel Tyrant began to roar with a mechanical sound mixed in.
It had discovered golden hand targeting the Ancient Heart.

“A numbers game, is it?”

The scattered piles of scrap metal around the area began to move simultaneously.
They combined haphazardly, transforming into bizarrely shaped golems.
Dozens of low-grade golems created in an instant.
They began charging madly towards golden hand.

“They generate spontaneously.”

golden hand clicked his tongue but wasn’t flustered.
This was golden hand, who dealt with level 20+ golems in a single hit.
Late-level 10 low-grade golems posed no hindrance whatsoever.
He grinned instead, adjusting his grip on the hammer.

“Inviolability!”

[You become invincible for 15 seconds.]

Confirming the rising message, golden hand ignored all attacks pouring onto him and leaped right into the middle of the golem horde.

And the storm of hammer strikes began.
Wherever his hammer swept through, golems were torn apart like paper and exploded.

Fifteen seconds later.
Every golem except the Gear-Wheel Tyrant had become lumps of scrap metal.

Kigi-gi-gik…!

As its minions were annihilated in an instant, the Gear-Wheel Tyrant’s single eye began to glow red, seemingly in rage.
Its bulging single eye.
When it reached its peak.

Clack-

The flamethrower mounted on its right arm spewed fire.

Whooshhhhh-!

An immense torrent of flame.
It mercilessly engulfed golden hand.
But thanks to ‘golden hand Wyvern Scale Breastplate,’ golden hand already had 30% increased fire resistance.

Of course, it wasn’t complete immunity.
golden hand was also taking damage, but he simply endured it.
The fortitude to withstand the heat of fire.
This was a blacksmith’s fundamental and essential trait.
Gritting his teeth, golden hand charged straight through the flames towards the Gear-Wheel Tyrant.

Krooo-!

Perhaps flustered by golden hand breaking through the fire, the Gear-Wheel Tyrant resisted, swinging its massive mechanical arms.
But golden hand was calm.
His eyes saw dozens of red dots covering the Tyrant’s entire body.

‘There are too many weak points.’

As many weaknesses were exposed as its massive size.
golden hand lightly dodged the Tyrant’s attacks, first neutralizing the flamethrower.
Then followed a bombardment of hammer strikes.
Starting from the joints of the Gear-Wheel Tyrant’s legs, he destroyed each weak point one by one.

Kwaang-!
Crack-
Bbrududuk-!

With each eerie hammering sound, the Tyrant’s movements gradually slowed, until finally, its huge body lost balance and collapsed.

Kooong-

golden handclimbed atop the fallen Tyrant’s head.

‘Solar Smash!’

A skill that dealt 300% of attack damage in an instant.
It struck the Gear-Wheel Tyrant’s massive head directly.

Kwaaaaang-!

Kwajik-
Pwoong!

Unable to withstand the blow of Solar Smash, the Gear-Wheel Tyrant’s head burst apart.
Simultaneously, a message appeared.

[Gear-Wheel Tyrant destroyed.]
[Gained an additional 100% Experience.]
[Level has increased! Lv. 20]
[Resolute Intuition skill has reached Lv.6.]
[Divine Dexterity skill has reached Lv.4.]
[Low-Grade Regeneration skill has reached Lv.5.]
[Acquired ‘Flamethrower Assembly.’]
[Acquired ‘Forgotten Ancient Schematic Fragment.’ (10/10)]
[You have collected all ‘Forgotten Ancient Schematic Fragments’!]
[‘Ancient Heart Schematic’ is complete!]
[Schematic has been stored in the ‘Blue Index.’]
.
.
.

Messages cascaded up.
Not only his level, but his skill levels seemed to have risen considerably.
Moreover, the Flamethrower Assembly that was mounted on the Gear-Wheel Tyrant’s arm.
Acquiring that could also be considered a gain.

‘Now, if I just destroy this… it’s over, right?’

The Ancient Heart that the Gear-Wheel Tyrant was protecting.
The dungeon’s core, still pulsating red at this very moment.
He stood before it, hammer in hand.

Ggududuk-

golden hand adjusted his grip on the hammer in his hand one more time.
One strike and it would be over.
He was on the verge of achieving the feat of completing an impossible quest.

But golden hand paused as if frozen before the Ancient Heart.
He seemed to be pondering something, then.

Clack-

He slung the hammer in his hand onto his back.
What he drew out instead was the item he received upon completing Ravi’s first test.
The Magical Engineering High-Grade Tool Set.

golden hand might have appeared halted, but his mind was racing rapidly.
The schematic unfolding before his eyes.
The newly acquired schematic through the Blue Index.
He was examining the Ancient Heart schematic.