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112. Counterattack

「Among the long history of us dwarves, this is the heaviest and mightiest hammer we’ve ever forged. There is nothing it cannot shatter.」

「The Hammer Blow of [Brown the Forgemaster]!!」

The antecesor Angelina recalled was likely a master of metalwork in life, who became a golem through his gift for alchemy. He probably never imagined he’d be summoned for his experience striking iron, rather than crafting it.

Either way, the task is simple—which makes lending a hand even easier. Works for me.

「Let’s finish this off. [Skill Lender], activate.」

「Debtor: Angelina Emesmes | Lent Skill: [Strength Enhancement]」

The massive, weighty hammer strike, now boosted by the [Strength Enhancement] skill, smashed through the ‘King’s’ hardened scales by sheer force. As if to repay the injury of having her right shoulder crushed earlier, Angelina slammed into the enemy’s right shoulder in turn. She bashed it down. Shattered it. Crushed it.

Now their damage was even. The difference from fighting a golem? Living creatures feel pain.

「It’s working!」

「When facing an opponent clad entirely in armor, the rule of thumb is to bash rather than slash. If the enemy doesn’t expect their armor to be broken, that’s all the better.」

「Pressing in! Geli will restrain it with the magic of [Guerlain of Dread]! Simultaneously, Geli will block its regeneration with the toxin of [Vermeer the Pestle]!」

「Then hit it again!」

Smash. Smash. Smash.

No matter how powerful an attack, repeated use risks becoming predictable. Angelina’s aim, clearly, was to defeat the enemy before that could happen. She kept up the relentless assault on the ‘King’ whose movements were beginning to slow. All I could do was keep pace.

「[Skill Lender], activate. She’s using them so liberally, I might as well lend more. No problem at all.」

Skill points increase the more a skill is used. No matter how greedy the cost, it doesn’t matter if the growth rate exceeds it. Unlike humans, who get tired and need sleep, a golem made of stone has no such limits.

「Debtor: Angelina Emesmes | Lent Skill: [Fatigue Resistance]」
「Debtor: Angelina Emesmes | Lent Skill: [Strike Enhancement]」
「Debtor: Angelina Emesmes | Lent Skill: [Flash of Insight]」
「Debtor: Angelina Emesmes | Lent Skill: [Hawk’s Eye]」
「Debtor: Angelina Emesmes | Lent Skill: [Obsidian]」

The more skills she stacked, the heavier each strike of the great hammer became. The ‘King’ spewed blue blood from all over its body, stumbling back step by step until finally pressing against the mountain slope.

Meanwhile, the golem’s right arm had finished regenerating. Now fully armed, it raised the massive hammer overhead with both hands.

「[Messenger of the Mine], rebooting. Hear me, black iron—grow heavy, heavier still. Grow hard, harder still. And above all, grow strong—stronger, and stronger still.」

The hammer’s form began to shift with sharp cracking sounds. Growing larger and more pointed, it targeted a single point: the one place the ‘King’ desperately tried to protect—right at the center of its skull.

「The Emesmes family’s plan was designed to be carried out alone. But in real combat, you use everything you’ve got!」

Angelina had once faced off against an actual army. Back when she took on the role of halting Duke Abik’s forces, she was shocked when his troops used water to bog down her massive golem. They’d adapted, quickly and creatively.

It went without saying—the Duke’s army was made up of regular humans. That such a group could trouble a golem had left a lasting impression on her.

「Shizuku-chan who activated the golem, Azula-chan who gave Geli a weapon, and above all, Skill Lender-san who brought us this far! None of you were part of the plan—but your help has weight!」

The iron hammer came down. Massive beyond belief, yet as sharp and fast as if wielded by a lithe warrior. The battered ‘King’ stood no chance of dodging. The strike hit dead-on, drawn in like fate itself. A towering cloud of dust rose, swallowing the scene.

「Did we do it!? That had to do it, right!?」

As Lord Emesmes’s voice rang out, I activated detection skills—and immediately shouted:

「Debtor: Angelina Emesmes | Lent Skill: [Leg Strength Enhancement]」

「Jump, Angelina!」

「Wha—!? [Leap], activate!」

The moment the golem leapt into the air, its lower half was blasted away. The delayed follow-up came in the form of a high-pitched, rending dragon’s roar.

—KOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHH!!

That voice, echoing through the dust cloud, meant one thing: the ‘King’ still lived. Its scales shattered, wings snapped before they could carry it into flight—yet the overwhelming power pouring from it hadn’t diminished at all.

The source of that power was its head—no, deep in its throat.

「A breath attack, is it? Geli had predicted something like this, but this is beyond the expected scale…」

It had sacrificed its wings to block the hammer strike, then funneled the mana stored in them into a focused counterattack. Had the golem not leapt when it did, it would’ve been completely obliterated. The firepower and mystique were staggering. Both Lord Emesmes and I reached the same conclusion.

「Something’s wrong.」

「Angelina, stay sharp. Something might be coming—watch for more than just a follow-up attack.」

「Eh? Ehh??」

「That breath just now—it was too weak for a dragon.」

Indeed, by human standards it was off the charts. But by the standards of dragons—the pinnacle of all living things—it couldn’t possibly have been its ultimate move.

Which meant it was holding something back—diverting that power somewhere else.

I focused my eyes, searching for the answer. And I found it quickly.

「Master, the monsters…!?」

「That power—it’s definitely the ‘King’s’. This isn’t just a death throe… it’s worse.」

When the sea of monsters emerged from the dungeon due to the Dungeon Break, they were forced to halt by my attacks and the battle with the ‘King’. Now, they stirred again. They were weaklings compared to the ‘King’ or his ‘Generals’—and yet now, they radiated overwhelming bloodlust.

The source of this change was obvious.

「A roar that strengthens and maddens dungeon-born monsters… You wouldn’t see that in the final chamber. This must be a rare experience, Geli.」

「Geli don’t care if it’s rare, medium, or well done—we have to move! Now! Move move move!!」

But the massive golem had lost its lower half and couldn’t move. The self-repair spell had begun restoring it, but the damage was too severe. If the swarm of monsters surrounded them, it would be over. And the ‘King’, wounded though it was, would surely rise again soon.

「Skill Lender-san… You’re surrounded too, aren’t you?! There has to be something—some way to break through this! A way to fight despite being unable to walk…!」

Angelina wracked her brain.

Meanwhile, Azula—who should’ve been in the same predicament—was, for better or worse, exactly the same as always.

「Geli-sama.」

「Yes!?」

「There’s something I’ve been wondering for a while now.」

「Y-Yes!?」

「Can Marge-sama lend the same skill to more than one person at a time?」

「Huh!? Is now really the time for that…?!」

Angelina was about to protest—but then, something occurred to her. And she stopped.

Both Angelina and Azula had already been briefed on the nature of my skill. They knew whether or not I could lend the same skill to multiple people at once.

「No, he can’t.」

「And yet, the skills he is currently lending—[Slash Enhancement], [Strength Enhancement], and the like—are the very ones Chunaru and the others borrowed when they fled the knight order.」

I’d lent them my skills as temporary weapons, with a set duration of ten days. Now that the term had expired, I’d been able to retrieve and reassign them to Lord Emesmes and Angelina. But that wasn’t the important part.

I recalled the day we arrived in Vita-Tama. I had faced off with Kirmiji, then defeated the knights and freed Chunaru and the others.

「If the skills I lent to Chunaru and the others have now returned, that means ten days have passed. Koe-san, what’s Kirmiji’s status?」

「He’s alive. Still unconscious, but stable…」

「[Seraph’s Grace], activate. Wake up, Kirmiji.」

「…Ugh?」

Minimal healing was enough to bring his eyes open. His mind must’ve still been screaming from the overload, but as long as he could speak, that was enough.

「Kirmiji, good news. Ten days have passed. You can finally repay your debt.」

「Th-Thank…」

Relief flickered across the knight commander’s face at the prospect of release from suffering. Seeing his intent, I spoke the ritual words:

「Then answer. Return it all.」