The Ultimate Sage Who Faked Incompetence and Was Disinherited Just Wants to Enjoy His New Life! - Episode 62: Its Weakness Is….

Episode 62: Its Weakness Is….

From the darkness at the back of the room, a Golem covered in metal armor appeared. The metal was layered multiple times, leaving no gaps. Because of that, we couldn’t even imagine what it looked like underneath the armor.

“It seems there’s no doubt—it’s a Guardian protecting the ruins.”

“Ardan, have you ever fought one before?”

Maybe he had fought one when he previously received a ruin investigation request. If that were the case, the battle should be quite advantageous.

“No, I haven’t. But I’ve seen it in the monster encyclopedia. If I remember correctly, that book said, ‘Guardians wear metal armor and have red eyes.’ That description matches exactly the one standing in front of us, doesn’t it?”

“That’s true.”

Now that he mentioned it, indeed. Two red lights could be seen through the gap in its iron helmet. They glowed ominously red—it felt like it was looking at us… or maybe not. It was an eerie and strange feeling.

“Since it’s different from a monster, maybe we can talk to it?”

“Hey, Fel, what language are you even planning to use to talk to it?”

Just as Jill said that with an exasperated voice, the Guardian spoke in some incomprehensible language. It seemed that the Guardian was capable of speech.

“What did it say?”

“I don’t know. I don’t think we’ll be able to communicate.”

After letting out a few more sounds like warning signals, the Guardian suddenly attacked. Of course, we weren’t careless. Ardan properly blocked the Guardian’s slamming fist with his shield.

A dull *clang* echoed. But it didn’t look like Ardan was injured. As usual, he readjusted his stance with the shield. Taking advantage of the Guardian’s opening, Jill swiftly slashed with his sword. However, with a dull sound, the attack was deflected.

“It’s tough. My blade won’t go through.”

“Next, try hitting the joints. Like with the Armor Bear, attacks might work better there.”

The Guardian’s fist came down again. Maybe Ardan had gotten the hang of it from the first hit—this time, he smoothly deflected the fist. The Guardian lost its balance. Not missing that opening, Jill stabbed his sword at the area equivalent to a human elbow. A dull *ging* sound was heard.

“No good. Even the joints are rock-hard. If we hit the same spot over and over, we might eventually break it. But it’ll take time.”

“I’ll try using magic next.”

Using magic in a narrow space is very dangerous. I had to be cautious, reduce the power, and still make sure it damaged the target. It takes a lot of concentration. By the way, Lilia hates that kind of fiddly magic—she prefers the big-boom type. So she’s banned from using offensive magic inside ruins.

Once I was ready to cast magic anytime, Ardan slammed his shield into the Guardian. The shock pushed the Guardian back, and Ardan stepped back too.

The distance between them widened.

“Fire Arrow!”

I condensed my magic power into a single arrow and fired. To improve its piercing power even slightly, I spun the arrow at high speed—it glowed brighter than usual.

The fire arrow pierced into the Guardian. The surface armor melted slightly, but it didn’t go through.

“Does that armor have fire resistance? Or is it magic resistance?”

“Could be both. Fel, it’s way too hot. Can you cool that thing down?”

“Got it. Ice Arrow!”

Countless small ice arrows I conjured flew at the Guardian with sizzling sounds, cooling it down. The Guardian kept moving as if nothing had happened.

“Fire attribute’s no good. It’s heating up both the Guardian and the room. Hey, what if we dig a hole with Pit and bury it?”

“That might be a good idea. Pit!”

Following Elise’s suggestion, I opened a hole right under the Guardian. It was fairly deep—if we buried it, it probably wouldn’t be able to get out.

The Guardian fell into the suddenly appearing hole. The ominous red glow remained visible for a moment. But it soon disappeared from view.

“Stone Ball!”

I created a massive amount of rocks from the air and dropped them into the hole. With that, the Guardian probably wouldn’t be able to come out—unless it could use earth magic or something.

“That’s quite a powerful magic combo. Depending on how you use it, even Pit alone can become a pretty nasty spell.”

“Yeah. For a spell supposedly made by Fairies for pranks, it’s pretty dangerous.”

“But with this, the Guardian should be—”

When Jill said that, the rocks that had buried the place earlier with Stone Ball disappeared. Could it be—

“Watch out! Looks like it used some kind of magic upward. Look, it’s climbing up!”

Just as Lilia raised her voice, the Guardian crawled out of the hole. Apparently, it could use earth magic. Nothing could be read from the Guardian’s two red eyes. But it gave off the impression of being filled with rage.

“What are we gonna do now?”

“Looks like the plan to trap it with a wall won’t work either.”

“I mean, its magic power can’t be infinite, right? Should we just keep dropping it into the hole and burying it until it runs out?”

Ardan said this while dodging the Guardian’s attacks with his shield. It might be possible, but no one knew how long it would take. It was entirely possible our magic would run out first.

“Lilia, doesn’t it have any weak points?”

“Even if you ask me that, I’ve never fought a Guardian, so I don’t know!”

Even Lilia seemed to understand how bad the situation was and appeared quite panicked. She wasn’t wearing her usual calm expression—instead, she clung to me with a stiff look.

Calm down, just calm down. Lilia should have knowledge accumulated over many years. If I can just draw that out properly, we might find its weak point.

“Lilia, ancient people used machines instead of magic tools, right?”

“Huh? Y-Yes, that’s right. Instead of magic tools, back then they used what they called machines.”

“What’s the difference between magic tools and machines?”

Uh… Lilia tapped her forehead with her finger as if trying to remember something. Meanwhile, Ardan and Jill were fending off the Guardian’s attacks. Elise was casting support magic on the two of them to recover their stamina. Apparently, even just defending was taking a heavy toll.

“That’s it. Electricity, electricity! They converted the magical power from magic stones into electricity and sent it to every part of the machines. That way, they could run all kinds of machines at the same time. So, if you pump a huge amount of electricity into the machine, it shorts out and becomes unusable. I used to break machines like that all the time as a prank!”

“Lilia, what’s electricity? What’s a short!?”

Lilia looked completely refreshed. But I had no idea what she was talking about. The only thing I understood was that she used to break machines for fun.

“Lightning! If we use lightning magic on that thing, we can destroy it!”

Lilia said this with full confidence. I didn’t really get it, but apparently we just needed to use lightning magic. That sounded doable.

“Hey wait, did I just hear someone say something dangerous like lightning magic!?”

“Yeah, Elise. We’re gonna hit the Guardian with lightning magic now. Apparently, that’ll short it out and destroy it.”

“That doesn’t make any sense!”

“It doesn’t make sense to me either! Ardan, Jill, can you drop the Guardian into that same pit from earlier?”

The hole the Guardian had crawled out of was still there. We’d drop it in again, then hit it with lightning magic. Since lightning magic is kind of dangerous, this way would be safer.

“Got it. Let’s give it a shot.”

“Man, you’re really bossy, you know that!”

Jill said that. But somehow, he looked happy. Maybe he was glad to be facing such a strong opponent.