The next floor was enveloped in a shining blue light.

Different from the floor up until now, this floor’s stone walls and pillars were made from blue crystals. After we walked for a bit we once again reached an open area in the middle of which a black mass of something had been left.

Without saying anything, Rhazes got closer to that black mass.

“What is that?”

[Similar to Hanumān, this is one of the beings that have protected me for many years.]

‘Protect? What does he mean…’

While I was lost in my thoughts the black mass suddenly began rising, slowly changing its form. Sounds of grinding metal were heard and the black mass took on a sort of roundish shape.

Judging merely from its form, it looked like a black snowman floating in mid-air. However, that snowman boasted a height of over 10 meters…

On top of that, out of nowhere, a number of enormous swords began appearing, floating around that black snowman as the centre.

“That’s…”

[It’s an Oracle Beast. The same as Hanumān. This is one of my creations as well.]

“You’re telling me to fight this one as well?”

[That’s right.]

“What’s the purpose in all of this? What’s the point in making me fight this thing!”

[You will find that out after you defeat this Guardian Golem Lavalier and come to the next floor.] said Rhazes, after which the Golem slowly began moving towards me.

“I have no choice it seems.”

I pulled out my sword and took my posture.

The great swords floating around the Golem suddenly moved, flying towards me at high speed. I repelled them using my sword and looked closely at my opponent, trying to figure out his abilities.

The Golem once again began producing even more swords out of nowhere.

The swords that I had just repelled and had fallen to the floor once more rose in the air and pointed their tips at me.

‘This one looks like it will be a pain as well…’ Thinking that I decided to appraise the black snowman.

■　■　■

■　■　■

‘It sure seems strong.’

I poured Fire and Lightning magic power into my sword.

Using my blade that now had Blazing Thunder running through it I once again repelled the swords coming towards me and charged at the black snowman in an attempt to slash it. My blade was repelled from its body, as if having hit metal, not leaving even a single scratch on the Golem.

I tried slashing it several more times, however, it was all to no avail.

“It’s strong against physical attacks huh… In that case.”

I put my sword back in its scabbard. After which I began gathering magic power towards my hands. In my left hand I prepared the Lightning Sovereign spell while in my right the Inferno spell. After which I used Combination Magic in order to fuse the both of them.

“Annihilating Divine Flame Lightning!!”

A lightning, covered in fierce flames, fell onto the Golem, piercing through its round body and falling on the ground beneath it.

Flames and smoke rose, completely covering the Golem. I was looking cautiously in order to try and figure out if the attack just now had done anything to it…

Behind the curtain of dust, the Golem was still floating there in mid-air, undamaged. ‘So its Magic Resistance is high as well… Normal means won’t work on it it seems.’

The seven great swords were still floating around its body, however, this time they formed into a formation of a sort and once again flew towards me.

They weren’t particularly fast so I was able to dodge them with ease, however, the swords suddenly began moving on their own, each flying at me from different sides.

Using my sword, I was once again able to repel the enemy’s attack. However, even if I were to repel a sword once, it only took a moment for it to once again point its blade at me.

“There’s no end to this…”After repelling all of my sword I stuck my sword into the ground.

I put both of my hands in front of me, putting them together while still leaving a slight space in between them. Powerful light was beginning to form within that slight space and an enormous amount of energy was gathered within my hands.

The Golem noticed this and immediately sent three of his swords flying towards me.

“Dragon Blast!!”

The light that appeared from between my clasped hands completely annihilated the three swords, piercing straight through the Golem. A third of the Golem’s body was completely annihilated.

Without showing any signs of stopping the annihilating light continued further, reaching even the walls of the cave, however just as it touched the wall the light dispersed leaving nothing behind. I thought that it would have left a hole in the wall, however in the end there was no change to the wall.

[Spectacular. With an ability like that even if an enemy has high resistances they will be completely useless.] said Rhazes as if having been impressed by my attack just now, however, I didn’t have the time for him right now.

In order to finish this, I once again put my hands together and tried to gather magic power, however…

I wasn’t able to do so.

‘Oh yea, I can’t use Dragon Blast consecutively. I should try to finish it in one strike from now on…’

Just as I was thinking that…

[It would be a waste if you don’t use the ability of that sword of yours. Don’t you think so?] said Rhazes.

His words made me remember something. Thinking back about it, when I had appraised Excalibur before, I was introduced to the sword’s special skill.

In order to refresh my memories, I decided to appraise Excalibur once more…

‘I completely forgot I could use this attack… Now that I think about it the Black Knight used a really powerful attack towards the end, didn’t he… This Golem might as well be the perfect opponent to try it out. However, I don’t feel good using it. If I use it now it will just feel like I’m being led by the nose by Rhazes… What in the world is that guy thinking I wonder…’

While I had been lost in my thoughts the Golem had once again produced an even greater number of great swords out of nowhere. It currently had 8 swords circling around it.

On top of that it looked like I had given it enough time to recover, so now it was back to its original state.

‘If I don’t finish it in one strike I won’t be able to win it seems…’

I charged at it and began repelling the swords around its body, while at the same time striking the body as well.

Even though I was repelling the swords and even though I was slashing at the body, I still couldn’t leave even a single scratch on it.

While continuing our attack-defense game for a bit Excalibur slowly began shining.

‘It seems like it’s amassing energy.’

I repelled all of the swords once again confirming that Excalibur had already gathered enough energy.

“RELEASE! Caletvwlch!!”

Excalibur shone and all of the energy stored within it was released at once. The light formed into a blade that reached the cave’s ceiling. I clenched the sword tight and brought it down upon the Golem.

Seeing that the Golem gathered all of its 8 swords in a desperate attempt to protect itself. However, the blade of light passed through all of the swords, splitting them in two and landing directly on the body of the Golem.

Upon landing on the Golem’s metal body, it sliced through it just like butter, cleanly dividing it into two.

◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇

Rhazes was looking at the fight from a bit farther away.

The sight of Gojo’s swordsmanship closely resembled that of his dear friend. While being flooded by feelings of nostalgia and sadness, memories of his friend turned up in Rhazes’ mind.

[Are you looking, Aias? This is the man that inherited your sword.]

Gojo released Excalibur’s stored up energy, slashing through Lavalier.

Looking at the Guardian that had protected him for so long being destroyed Rhazes felt sad, however, he knew that it was a necessary step for the things that were to follow.

Gojo brought forth a black flame in order to finish off Lavalier.

[All of you still live inside of him…] saying that Rhazes slowly closed his eyes.

◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇

It seems like the attack just now had been fatal to the Golem, it didn’t seem like it would regenerate once again. However, I still had to be completely sure.

Just in case I sent out a magic spell to finish this completely.

“Combination Magic Helheim!!”

The Golem was wrapped in black flames. Due to the damage it had suffered its Magic Resistance wasn’t what it had once been… The black mass began crumbling, all life having already left it.

“Tame!”A magic circle appeared that sucked in the remains of the Golem. Looking at Tame’s list I could see the Golem’s name written there.

[It seems like you were successful.] said Rhazes with a slight smile on his face. There were still a mountain of things that I wanted to ask this man.

“Could you tell me about yourself already. Why are you doing all of this? You said that you were the one that made the gacha, but why exactly did you do that?”

[I will answer all of your questions. However, first of all would you check if you have maxed out the Hero Class Slate that you got?]

“Eh?”

Being persuaded by Rhazes I checked my status only to see that I had really maxed out the Hero Class Slate. However, there was something that was clearly different from anything I had seen before.

The Hero’s Class Skill had suddenly gone up to SSS.

[That’s a special Class Slate you see. Compared to normal Class Slates it’s considerably harder to level it up, however, once you do, it raises the Class Skill’s rank by three ranks.]

‘Three ranks? Can there really be such an amazing Class Slate…’

[Well then, let’s stop the fighting for now. My body is waiting for us on the next floor. If you come with me, I’ll tell you everything I know.] said Rhazes heading towards the stairs leading to the next floor.