Ellis bottled in all of his frustration and anger, and poured it all into his attacks.

He did not dodge, nor did he falter. Instead, he received each and every one of the Golem’s blows with his own. The more they fought, the clearer the situation seemed to get. His strength was superior to the Golem’s by a wide margin. Still, despite that, it simply wasn’t strong enough.

The Golem’s dual regeneration and durability proved to be a tough obstacle for him to overcome.

With the spear in his hands, he could freely slice and penetrate its wooden shell with some effort, but it would only result in small cuts, of which the Golem easily recovered from in a matter of seconds.

Even when he bisected a limb with great effort, it simply grew back after fifteen seconds of healing.

Without a doubt, the Golem was another troublesome opponent.

Ellis grew impatient. No, even more than that. He felt frustrated.

He hated this thing.

This feeling of frustration, of helplessness. He felt frustratingly helpless.

He could fight with all of his heart’s content, but regardless of how much effort he put in, the window of victory only grew smaller and smaller as the seconds ticked by. It was a similar experience to his battle with the Slime.

A stalemate… No, it wasn’t a stalemate. With the Slime, he was unable to hurt the creature, but at the same time, it was unable to hurt him. This was a bit different. He couldn’t hurt it, but the Golem certainly could.

“…”

… This wasn’t it. This wasn’t the sort of fantasy life that he wanted.

To be domineering. To be strong. To be unchallenged. To live a carefree and unrestricted life. There were a lot of things that he wanted, and quite frankly, Ellis did not really know which desire he prioritized, but struggling against a creature like this certainly wasn’t one of them!

If my attacks aren’t strong enough, then I’ll just get even stronger!

Ellis cocked his arm back. He let out a guttural roar and threw his spear like a javelin. A dull boom reverberated through the air; the streaking black blur broke through the sound barrier.

The Golem did not have a chance to react.

Its body suddenly lurched backward as an explosion of wood chips blossomed all around it. The spear had pierced through its shoulder. In fact, the black blur went in one end and came out the other, only stopping after it had reached the faraway white wall behind. Nearly half of the spear was embedded deep within the marble-like material.

Ellis panted heavily.

His arm trembled uncontrollably. It was somewhat bloated and excessively numb. If one looked closely, then they’d quickly notice the strands of snapped muscle fiber poking out from his splintered skin. They were like little red worms crawling out from the crevices of cracked earth.

Still, despite the condition of his arm, it was already starting to heal, albeit somewhat slower than normal.

Ellis continually glared at the struggling Golem. It had not fallen over from the impact, but it had stumbled nearly twenty steps backward. There was now a hole near its upper right chest. The hole was barely the size of a baseball, but he felt drawn towards it.

Black…

He saw an empty blackness.

The hole quickly started to close, but even before that, he was already on the move.

A ferocious glint flashed through his eyes. Like a crazed beast, Ellis rushed forward. His crippled arm flapped loosely by his side, but he did not pay it much attention.

Ellis did not go to retrieve the spear. Instead, he aimed directly for the Golem!

The Golem responded with a punch, but Ellis simply punched back. The moment that both fists collided, a small shockwave spread through the air. The Golem’s arm momentarily shuddered before it once again took several steps back.

Still, Ellis was not satisfied. In fact, a frown formed on his face.

Without hesitation, he continually launched punch after punch. He even threw in a few kicks every now and then. The Golem blocked each blow with its arms, but the force behind Ellis’s attacks continually forced it backward. Ellis only stopped after he noticed how close they were getting to Wight and the other Golem.

By this point, his crippled arm had regained some mobility. The frown on his face deepened.

He was clearly stronger. His strength far outstripped the Golem’s, but it still wasn’t enough. The damn wood had too much durability.

Instead of feeling discouraged, this only further enlivened him. The frustration that had long since simmered within his heart finally reached a breaking point!

I don’t believe I can’t break you!

For the longest time, he had believed that the trees of this forest were unbreakable. This viewpoint was slightly skewed by the appearance of the black spear, but still, his perspective did not really change. After all, without the black spear, the trees were like the buildings of a videogame. They were things that the player was never meant to interact to.

But that was before…

Ellis was someone who constantly grew. After every battle, after every encounter, after every day, every minute, he constantly grew stronger and stronger. Whether he was aware of this or not was questionable, but without a doubt, the Ellis now was significantly stronger than the Ellis from six years ago.

He threw one last punch that completely shattered the Golem’s defensive stance. The creature stumbled backward, its arms flailing beside it.

Ellis rushed forward. He jumped up and latched onto the Golem’s chest with a vice-like grip.

The Golem’s outer shell formed a sort of armor that mimicked the human body. The vague contours of human muscle were reflected in the form of plated armor. Ellis had grabbed onto the part that resembled a breastplate.

The moment his feet landed on the creature’s chest, numerous spikes suddenly emerged out from its body. They ruthlessly pierced his skin, droplets of fresh blood flowed freely like an open geyser. In a blink of an eye, Ellis had been once more reduced to a bloody pincushion.

A moment later, he once again felt the uncomfortable wriggling of wooden branches growing within his body.

Ellis tried his best to ignore it. He kept his glare focused in on the creature’s chest. He briefly recalled back to the empty blackness that he had witnessed.

It was here…

Without hesitation, he reached over with his other hand and grabbed onto the edge of the plate armor. He gritted his teeth and pulled.

The veins on his arm throbbed like wriggling worms, while his entire face reddened like a bright tomato. He pulled and pulled. Ellis wanted to rip open the Golem’s chest plate and expose its insides!

Even when the Golem’s armor remained unaffected, he still did not stop.

Break! Break! Break for me!

Ellis felt something within his body move. A branch had somehow snaked its way into his heart. A piercing pain suddenly erupted from his chest. It was so painful that it threatened to steal away his consciousness, but Ellis somehow persevered through grit and determination.

No matter what, he refused to let up.

The beating in his heart intensified. It throbbed erratically, while his muscles creaked and whined.

Break!

The fibers in his left arm started popping. He was over drafting his strength, but Ellis was stubborn.

I said break!

White mist exuded out from the pores of his skin. His skin splintered; blood oozed out from his left arm.

Break for me!

Underneath the constant pressure that he applied, something finally gave. Ellis immediately felt it. The armor had creaked. It was a slight change, barely noticeable, but it was proof that his efforts were not all in vain.

He pulled even harder. Slowly but surely, the Golem’s right breastplate peeled back. With one last final pull, he completely snapped it in half.

Ellis decisively threw away the broken plate armor and glared at the new hole that he had created.

The hole was not big, probably around the same size as his torso. Still, it was enough. It alone was a testament to his strength. The frustration within his heart slowly tapered out.

Within the Golem’s chest, he once again saw it. An empty blackness. The Golem’s chest was hollow, yet there was something inside.

A core? Is this the core?

He could not quite properly make out what that something was, but nevertheless, his determination had been ignited.

I can do this!

All of a sudden, the Golem’s regeneration kicked in. It hurriedly tried to regrow the parts that Ellis had ripped out. At the same time, the pain within his body intensified. Ellis could only grit through the pain and rely on the slim light of hope to guide his resolve.

After coming so far, he simply refused to lose now! Victory was quite literally at the tips of his fingertips.

Ellis once again reached out for its breastplate. The presumed core in its chest was surprisingly large. In order to take it out, he first needed to widen the hole.

Using the rest of his remaining strength, he completely destroyed the rest of its right breastplate.

The hollow cavity of the Golem’s chest had been completely exposed. Unfortunately, Ellis had over drafted his strength. His vision blurred and his legs felt wobbly. All he could see was the vague outline of… something.

Even though his eyes were directly staring at it, his brain could not quite process the images that he was witnessing. Still, Ellis did not hesitate. He swiftly reached in and yanked out the presumed core.

He heard a series of snapping sounds, almost as if several wires had just been severed. Without hesitation, he threw the object to the ground.

Almost immediately, the squirming within his body stopped. The Golem lost all of its enthusiasm.

Its body jerked once, before it collapsed to the ground like a puppet with its strings cut.

At the same time, Ellis had no more strength left within his body. As the Golem came tumbling down, he also fell with it.

He plummeted from a height of nearly thirty meters. For a split instant, his blurry vision experienced a moment of clarity. He glanced back at the thing that he had thrown.

What the hell?

He unconsciously furrowed his brow. Were his eyes playing tricks on him?

That thing… to his surprise, there was no magic core. Instead, he saw a naked girl with pale white skin.

Before he could think any further, he hit the ground head first and blacked out. A moment later, the Golem… no, the empty shell crashed to the floor with a resounding bang.