The golem that had been far away had somehow grabbed my tail at some point.
The lightning struck the golem, stopping its movements.
“It judged you as a threat!”
That must be it.
No matter how fast you are, you can’t be faster than lightning!
Though Heavenly Thunder Spirit couldn’t completely disable the golem, I succeeded in paralyzing it.
‘It was trying to grab and swing me.’
My caught tail feels sore.
Its face area was slightly melted.
It had managed to grab me through Isil’s hellfire.
Since my caught tail wouldn’t come loose, I canceled gigantification.
As my body size decreased, I could slip free.
With the golem temporarily paralyzed now.
Could I take down that tough one during this time?
“This actually worked out well.”
Pelerian had a plan.
“Left knee, behind the left knee!”
Though I wasn’t sure what was wrong with the left knee, I immediately jumped to the back of the golem’s left knee.
When I bit it.
“That square thing above, open the lid!”
There really was something like a square metal lid behind the knee.
“There’s a control panel there. If you enter the password, you should be able to reset its state.”
This powerful golem was clearly something Pelerian had made himself.
He had created a backdoor for easy control in case of emergency.
I took Dawn out of dimensional storage and stuck it into the control panel’s lid.
Then using the principle of leverage, I popped the lid off.
Ting!
The square metal lid fell helplessly and.
Inside was complex machinery.
Though there was nothing like an LCD screen, what had numbers written on it was clearly a password input device.
Of course, they weren’t Arabic numerals!
“Into administrator mode!”
‘What’s the password!’
“It’s connected to the dungeon itself, so…!”
Pelerian wracked his brain to remember.
-0918, right, zero nine one eight!
‘Ah!’
About to press the buttons, I realized something.
‘Is this maybe a date? Whose birthday is it?’
“Hey you bastard, press it quickly!”
I hurriedly entered the password.
==
Pelerian’s dungeon.
The tombstone.
All three golems rushing out was a stroke of fortune for those waiting in front of it.
Meeting those golem guards in the narrow interior would have meant unavoidable death.
While they were contemplating a detour, who would have thought wyverns would draw out the golems.
Zhanil Fezhe, that ranger from the Empire, didn’t miss the opportunity.
He led the surviving ten Gray Hammer dwarves and one human companion straight into the dungeon interior.
The Gray Hammer dwarves had built this dungeon long ago.
Surprisingly, Zhanil Fezhe discovered this when he approached the dungeon alone.
It was written on the foundation stone inside the dungeon that the Gray Hammer clan had built it.
Though he couldn’t get closer due to the golems, after confirming this, Zhanil Fezhe immediately turned back.
Then he visited the Gray Hammer clan and threatened them.
Saying he would charge them with the crime of cooperating with the Heaven Defier magician.
Of course, the dwarves wouldn’t easily yield to such threats.
But Zhanil Fezhe was a genuine imperial agent carrying out royal orders.
Moreover, he was skilled at both negotiation and intimidation.
When he sweet-talked them while demanding compensation for cooperation, the dwarves followed.
Though a fight broke out when some dwarves lost their temper.
Zhanil Fezhe’s own combat ability exceeded their expectations.
While some of Zhanil’s subordinates died, all the brave dwarves died then.
Only cowards remained among the dwarves.
Zhanil led them in quickly breaching the dungeon.
Since they knew about the dungeon’s mechanisms, the breakthrough was quite fast considering the level of defense.
“If I had come in alone, I would’ve died long ago.”
Zhanil muttered thus.
The exhausted dwarves glared at him.
“This is as far as we can easily break through.”
Zhanil Fezhe was a man who seemed too old to be middle-aged, but too robust to be elderly.
“Just open that door for me.”
“…”
The dwarves wore dissatisfied expressions but had no choice but to tackle the gateway again.
That gateway would be better described as a ‘wall’ rather than a ‘door’.
It had complex patterns and numbers drawn on it, clearly having magic and mechanisms installed.
“Built quite romantically, didn’t they.”
Zhanil was appreciating the wall’s structure as if it wasn’t his concern.
Beside him sat an elderly person wearing a hood.
“Password… hmm.”
The gateway seemed to be the type of device that opens when you enter a password.
The dwarves were working to break through this door.
Click.
One of the dwarves must have touched something wrong.
Beeeep-
With a warning sound, the entire gateway emitted red light.
Though the light soon stopped, the dwarves cursed.
“Fourth failure already! Even we don’t know what trap might trigger!”
“Hmm…”
Zhanil sighed as if troubled.
“Well, do you have any ideas?”
His question was directed at the elderly person sitting beside him.
The elder didn’t answer immediately, but replied after a pause.
“I think I might know.”
“If the doctor doesn’t know, who would? Aren’t you an expert in semiotics and archaeology?”
“Just because I know semiotics and archaeology doesn’t mean I can break into dungeons. Though it might help a little.”
The ‘doctor’ stood up.
Zhanil Fezhe was delighted.
Standing up meant he must have thought of something.
“I believed in you, Doctor Robanton.”
“Hmph.”
The name of the elder who removed his hood was Robanton.
The unfortunate man who was once kidnapped by wyverns.
He had returned here.
He approached the door and began touching the carvings.
“Hey, careful.”
“Shh.”
Zhanil stopped the dwarves who tried to prevent him.
Robert Banton Doctor paid no attention and pressed the numbers carved on the door.
And…
A warning sound rang out.
Beeeeeep-!
“Ah, 8 maybe? Could be 7.”
The dwarves scattered in panic.
They had gotten the password wrong five times.
==
Following Pelerian’s advice, I manipulated the control panel behind the golem’s knee.
Carefully pressing the number buttons to avoid mistakes.
0, 9, 1, 8
Four digits that might be someone’s birthday.
However, there was no ‘ding’ sound and the golem didn’t stop.
Beep beep beep beep beep.
Just before pressing the final 8.
The control panel flashed orange.
And then the voice of the magic spirit I’d heard before in Pelerian’s dungeon rang out.
“Password has been entered incorrectly 5 or more times consecutively.”
“Please unlock directly from the control room.”
What?
