Golem, in Viers’ mind, was something with as many varieties as stew dishes. The most common of them all were stone golems and earth golems, almost no fantasy games were without them, in one form or another. Golem could be a bottom-of-the-barrel mook enemy or boss-class worthy, depending on the design.

Viers had fought a great many of golems, uncountable, in fact, during his long years of gaming history. Yet seeing something from a screen no matter how HD the graphic was, failed to convey the feeling how most of them could crush his head to a bloody pulp.

Because the game avatar usually didn’t die in a gruesome death they should. No pulverization, decapitation, evisceration, laceration, incineration, gory-sation, gutted-sation, torso explode-sation, et cetera. Because they had to keep the rating suitable for 16 years old teenagers.

The moving stone right in front of him was not the ‘small fry’ level enemy, much to Viers’ regret. He had thought about it in the past, after reincarnating in this world, what enemies could trouble the current him? Golem was one of them. The reason was simple, he was lacking in status points and had bad compatibility with high-defense enemies like golems.

“Hmph!” Viers slashed its arm, it barely made a mark.

Figures, if my STR stats are high enough, I could just punch it in the face. Alas… Viers dodged its punch again then used his feet to maintain the distance with the golem while strategizing.

His preferred weapon was a poor choice against its hardness. Sword was a tool made for cutting, stone was not easy to cut. Hammer for crushing seemed to be a good idea at the moment.

But I never used a hammer before. Using an unfamiliar weapon during a real battle could be fatal. I’d rather have my sword then make things work from there.

His elemental affinity also unsuited for this enemy.

Viers’ enemies up to this point were living beings; animals, monsters, and humans. More humans than monsters, because he was a sword for hire. For humans, a knife to the heart, a sword to the throat, or a hammer to the skull was enough to end a human being’s life.

Not to something made of stone.

Viers’ attack power was pretty standard. Water was not specialized towards attacking, on the contrary, it leaned on towards defending. All his water Artes weren’t suitable for dealing major damage to the golem’s stone body.

Mmm, I have no armor-piercing type Arte… got to mend this weakness in the future. I mean, how could I know I would fight a golem so quickly? I didn’t even remotely prepare for this fight.

Viers’ ideal was to rely on himself. Unlike other MCs with lots of companions and party members to be switched when the situation arises on a menu screen, Viers was a loner. Therefore he didn’t rely on anyone else, only himself, therefore he had to be able to do everything himself. He aimed to be a jack of all trades and master of all. Pretty dream, perhaps impossible, but he would try to do it anyway.

Using Hyper Arte, he sliced open a boulder in the past but it was one of his trump cards. He would save it until the appropriate situation. Viers was a miser about his Victa and life-force.

Dodging, weaving, dashing around, Viers calmly analyzed the golem.

No water around me, no inventory items to use, and my ranged attacks are too meager to it so I have to melee it. Except, it got an overwhelming advantage in close quarters. I deal 1 damage to it with each attack while it deal 50 damage to me if it hit me. Sheesh, this trial… what a pain. At least his speed isn’t off the chart, I can evade its attacks.

With the facts gathering before him, Viers prepared to go on the offensive. As a gamer with a wealth of experience against this ‘tough’ type of opponent, he observed his surroundings.

Usually there are things in the field that could deal massive damage to this kind of encounter. Exploding barrels, pitfall, poison terrain, fire room to bait it inside, laser attack from the sky, and so on and so on.

Viers looked around, only braziers illuminating the surroundings were worthy of note in the arena. Viers ran towards one of the burning brazier and knock it down to the ground. Nothing was happening except making things messy.

Not that, how ‘bout this?

Viers knocked another brazier to the golem using his sword, half expecting it would magically explode like the red barrels from various video games. The golem tanked the burning wood like a champ and continue pursuing him.

Nope, not that too. Braziers are not the answer.

Viers eyed all around him like a professional soccer ball player on a World Cup match, but he didn’t find anything he could use. Wary of destroying all of the braziers and had to fight in the dark, Viers decided to preserve the remaining source of light and adjusting his strategy.

Next, find its weak point. It usually glows with bright colors because the game developer felt it wasn’t obvious enough. Or because they doubted the players’ intellect. BEHOLD the mighty gamer power! Gweheheh.

Viers speed up and running around it so he could see the golem’s back.

Mmm… nope, nothing is glowing. Nothing resembles a weak point either.

Viers engaged the golem in close-quarter combat briefly. Because it sometimes roared when he did that.

“BWWOOO!”

Dentist Viers here! Wow! Congratulation, you dear sir, have no cavities. In fact, you have no teeth at all. Still, no glowing thingy is hidden inside its mouth…

Viers ducked a right hook that would turn his head into a bursting watermelon. When the golem roared again, Viers jammed his sword to its mouth.

He received unsatisfying feedback from his hand, just a sword hitting stone. Viers pull the sword back and dashed backward to avoid the golem’s attack.

Yup, nothing there, next!

With a gusto, Viers performed a mighty stab to one of its eyes. Since the golem’s eyes were magically glowing, he figured it would mean something should he poke it.

“RRAAA!”

Viers was hit, he minimized the damage by jumping backward and invoking his defense Arte.

“Tsk, another miss…” Viers clicked his tongue.

The enemy design is flawed. If this is on Earth, a game filled with bosses like this would get flamed by the YouTubers and reviewers. Sigh, it seems this thing has no apparent weakness spot. Time for the brute force method then.

The golem had no flaw he could exploit. Since this was a trial designed by a high-level Path-seeker, it conformed to logic that the trial wouldn’t have a glaring defect. Apparently the Lamia Queen wanted him to fight fair and square and triumphed over the construct. Out of options, Viers accepted the reality that he must trade blow for blow with a moving rock.

Fair and square, huh? I shall treat you MY kind of fair and square!

After the golem finished launching its attack, Viers slashed it. He maintained his distance, wait for the golem to attack before making an attack of his own. Rinse and repeat, wax on wax off.

That’s right, Viers was cheesing it.

The golem let out a straight punch while roaring, Viers sidestepped and slashed its elbow before moving away. The sounds of steel slashing rock resounded, the golem kept acting as if nothing happened and kept going after him with familiar attack patterns.

Behold the mighty strategy of man! The cheese strategy! You might be a golem with high attack and defense but your AI is at the level of PS1 games! It is already outdated! Predictable attack patterns and mindless AI, you’re just a fish in a chopping block in front of me.

Viers felt pleased with himself, chuckling at his tried and true strategy of beating Sek*ro bosses. Minimizing the risk of getting hit then poke the enemy until their death. Viers also didn’t attack blindly, he targeted its joints because the defense was thinner in those places.

Move away, poke, roll away, one-two slash, jump, and slash. then create distance again. How familiar…

If the golem had higher speed in launching its attack and more unpredictable then Viers might found himself in deeper trouble. The souls games developers certainly used that angle combined with unique attack patterns to make the games’ bosses maddeningly difficult, but not this golem. To Viers, this golem was a knock off imitation of the great games' bosses, except for its high spec, mediocre.

The Spring of Wisdom saved the day once again. The reason I got to defeat it, is because the Lamia Queen sucks at designing a game boss. Hur hur hur.

After about a dozen times, the golem’s right elbow was severed by Viers. The severed arm fell and stayed still like a rock supposed to be. With one arm left, the golem’s threat was even lower. Viers was wary of attack pattern changes after its health bar dropped but it didn’t happen.

You’re in dire need of a system patch, my rock headed friend.

The next after its right arm was its left. With no arms remaining the golem sought to crush Viers with its body. Viers kept cheesing it and focus on its thin waist this time. Slowly but surely, the golem’s waist area broke. The humanoid golem became a caterpillar golem.

Viers stood looking downwards on the unable to move golem, staring straight forward to its glowing eyes. No pity, no emotion.

With no way of resisting, Viers kept hitting its head, mercilessly and repeatedly like a robot. His sword was strengthened by magic so it was very durable, even after all the slashing against rocks the sword didn’t get chipped or broken. Little by little, the crack on the golem’s head was widening.

“This is the end,” the full power thrust of his sword pierced the golem on its forehead. The golem let out a loud, somewhat sad death throes before the light on its eyes dimmed to nothingness.

“…Shinobi Execution.” Viers muttered softly.

“You defeated it, congratulations.” Kala who went away during the battle flew and approached him.

“How long did I took?” Viers asked.

“According to the standard measurement of time, 37 minutes.”

“It’s a tough battle, I’ll give you that.” Viers felt tiredness creeping up his body.

“The other three fought a heated battle against their respective opponent. Bloody and battered after their victory, unlike you,” Kala commented.

“My way of fighting may not be flashy but it’s efficient,” Viers dryly replied. “Is this satisfactory? Am I qualified for the next trial?”

After Viers’ question, a portal opened near him.

“Yes, after you’re ready you can enter the portal.”

“Then a 10 minutes break,” Viers sprawled on the floor, exhaling a long satisfied breath.