Kai, a Japanese graduate student, dies in a freak accident and wakes up in a sword-and-sorcery world. Chosen by a whimsical god, he receives the Golem Summoning skill. His golems are two massive ape-like creatures, always active but without free will, moving only on his command. The adventurer guild scoffs at him. Old-timer Godan sneers that two golems are useless.
But Kai has a secret weapon: his past-life knowledge as a science student and a hardcore pro-wrestling fan. He commands his golems
Golem Pro-Wrestling in Another World - Golem Unrivaled! Instantly Killing a Special Variant Completely Changes the Guild's Assessment
The smell of blood was devouring the scent of the forest.
Hyune ran desperately, her legs trembling beneath her. Her golden curls were a tangled mess of sweat and mud, and her blue eyes were distorted with tears. Her silver earrings made faint sounds in time with her ragged breathing.
"Hahh... hahh... Everyone, this way... Hurry...!"
But there was no reply. No one had the composure left to answer.
The Crevasse Forest. It was a vast mixed forest spreading across the southeast of Falkenhart. While the outer edges were a popular herb-gathering spot for F-rank adventurers, stepping into the middle layers was like entering another world entirely. The trees covered the sky, leaving it dim even during the day. The air was damp, and the smell of moss stung the nose. And this was the territory of the forest's masters.
Hyune's team should have been gathering herbs at the forest's edge today, following their "safety first" policy. That was, until just moments ago.
"Why... why did we go into the middle layer... It was my... my misjudgment..."
Her right hand unconsciously gripped her left shoulder, her nails digging in with enough force to break skin.
The trigger had been something small. The usual herb-gathering area had been extremely sparse with their target herbs. One of her teammates had said, "Just a little further in should be fine." Hyune had objected. But lacking decisiveness, she had ultimately given in to her teammates' pressure.
"...Safety first. We shouldn't have come this deep."
That was when it happened.
DOGOOOOON!!!
A roar like the earth itself groaning. When she turned around, a massive tree was flying through the air right behind her, snapped like a twig.
"Ahh... Again...!"
It was an aberration.
Its body was roughly three meters long. It had the silhouette of a giant boar—a Galdhorn—but its surface wasn't living skin; it was covered in a hard outer shell like jet-black bedrock. Its massive horns were like twisted obsidian. A single bloodshot eye swiveled, locking onto Hyune and her three companions.
—A special variant.
It was incomparable to a normal Galdhorn. According to the Vandur Guild Charter, encountering such an unexpected situation required immediate retreat and reporting to higher ranks. But there wasn't even time left to shout for retreat.
"GRUOOOOOOOOH!!!"
The special variant charged. Its target was Hyune's teammate, limping as she fled.
"No... Don't come... I can't... anymore...!"
Hyune stepped in front of the massive body, shielding her comrade. With trembling hands, she raised her longsword—the sword she had bought "for safety," never once used in actual combat.
The tip of the blade wavered uncontrollably.
(*I can't do this. This is too much for me...*)
Despair darkened her vision. The screams and hopelessness of her party echoed deep into the forest.
—That was when it happened.
"Here we go, Golem No. 1!!! LARIATOOOOO!!!"
Suddenly, from the right side of Hyune's vision, a massive "rock" came flying in. No, not a rock. It was a giant ape made of stone, standing about 2.2 meters tall. The stone golem raised its long arm horizontally, whipping it like a lash, and slammed it into the flank of the charging special variant.
GAGYAAAAAN!!!
A metallic, unnatural impact sound echoed through the forest. The special variant's massive body, however, held its ground despite taking the lariat. Its trajectory was deflected, but its hardened shell didn't have a single scratch.
"I see. Different league entirely. That shell's nothing like a normal Galdhorn's."
Along with that mutter, another golem and a young man appeared, mowing down trees as they emerged.
His black short hair was slightly tousled as usual. His black eyes, however, were no longer smiling. They held a calm light, like a scientist observing an unknown specimen. On his left wrist, the faint white mark of a wristwatch from his previous life remained.
It was Kai.
His two golems had incorporated some of the iron ore from a Galdhorn they'd taken down yesterday on their way back from a hunt, changing their forearms and shoulder joints to an iron color. That was what had given the lariat its weight.
"Ah... You're... Kai-san... Why...?"
Hyune raised her tear-and-mud-streaked face and murmured in a daze.
Kai was a strange new golem user she'd only exchanged a few words with at the guild. A man who kept two ape-type golems at his side and was laughed at by the guild veterans as a "heretic." Hyune had been slightly interested in his golem combat style. But she never imagined he would appear in this situation.
"Sorry, talk later. You all, fall back. I'll handle that thing."
Kai glanced at Hyune and her injured companions, then returned his gaze to the depths of the forest. The special variant was slowly righting itself, glaring at Kai—the new intruder—with bloodshot eyes.
"B-but... it's too hard... Our attacks didn't even..."
"I've already seen how hard it is. Its charge speed and that shell's density... If I try to overpower it head-on with brute force, the golem's arms won't hold up."
Kai's voice was utterly calm. There seemed to be no fear or tension in it at all. Hyune was once again taken aback by how abnormal this man was—the complete opposite of her own uncontrollable trembling.
Kai thought.
The materials science knowledge he'd cultivated in graduate school in his previous life. How to apply destruction to an object of high hardness. Stress concentration at a single point. And the essence of "throwing techniques" in the martial art known as pro wrestling.
"...Alright. This'll work. This is it. Golem No. 2, standby in the rear. No. 1, provoke it from the front. Bait out its charge!"
His thoughts were transmitted to the two golems. The golems had no will of their own. But Kai's commands were absolute.
One golem leaped out in front of the special variant. It raised its arm and slammed the ground violently.
DOGON! DOGON!
The special variant answered the provocation with a roar.
"GRUOOOOOOOOH!!!"
The massive body began its charge again. Hard hooves crushed the earth, kicking up dust. Straight toward the golem.
The distance closed in an instant.
Hyune couldn't even scream. She could only watch.
Collision, collision, collision—.
"NOW!! No. 1, SUPLEX!!! LIFT IT UUUUP!!!"
At the same moment as Kai's shout, the front golem—with a smoothness unbelievable for its reaction speed—wrapped both arms around the head of the charging special variant. Stone and hide met with a dull thud.
And in that instant, Kai's thoughts thrust the golem's hips forward with a sharp jerk.
GUN!!!
The special variant's massive body floated into the air, defying gravity.
Like a toy.
Hyune couldn't believe her eyes. To catch that unstoppable charge head-on and throw it—
"...Amazing... What's happening...?"
But Kai's performance was only at its midpoint.
The airborne special variant traced an arc through the air, falling toward the rear. At its landing point, the other golem was already waiting, arms spread wide.
"And now, No. 2!!! POWERBOOOOOMB!!!"
The rear golem caught the falling special variant upside down. Then, falling backward, it drove the special variant's head into the ground with all its might.
ZUDDDDDDOOOOON!!!!!!
For a moment, the ground seemed to cave in. A violent cloud of dust billowed up. The impact, strong enough to shake the entire forest, traveled to Hyune's feet.
When the dust cleared, there was the special variant, head driven into the ground, its hard shell cracked with large, jagged fractures. The shell that had withstood such a charge had finally screamed in protest.
"It's working, it's working! Alright, time to finish it!! Switch, both golems, simultaneous lariat!!! The neck—no, it doesn't have a neck, so the cervical area? Whatever, right there!!!"
The two golems charged simultaneously, closing in from both sides. Then, targeting the base of the neck where the shell had shattered on the stunned, motionless special variant, they slammed their iron-colored forearms in with full force, crossing them like scissors.
GAAAAASH!!!!
The grating sound of something hard breaking.
The special variant's body convulsed violently.
Then, the three-meter giant slowly collapsed to its knees. With a heavy, quiet thud.
The battle was over.
"...No way. That was three times harder than I expected. Even with iron elbows, the vibration reaches me too."
Kai confirmed his safety, exhaled, and shook out his arms, rotating his stiff shoulders. A faint sheen of sweat glistened on his forehead.
Hyune remained stunned for a while.
What had just happened? That monster—the one all her comrades together couldn't stand against—this man had disposed of it like routine paperwork.
"...Kai-san... Why... did you save..."
She barely managed to ask with a trembling voice.
Kai laughed lightly. With a casual tone, as if he'd just picked up a stray cat in the neighborhood.
"Why... I just happened to be passing by. On my way back from a Galdhorn hunt. Then I heard some incredible screaming. Came to check, and this is what I find."
"Happened to..."
"You fight like that... just because you happened to be passing by...?"
"Well, that's kind of my hobby."
Saying that, Kai sent his thoughts to the two golems. The golems approached the fallen special variant and began efficiently harvesting the hard shell and the twisted massive horns.
"U-um... that's..."
"Hm? Spoils of war. That shell—it's worth a whole different order of magnitude compared to ordinary boar hide. I know the guild's purchase standards. Something that hard would be first-class material. I'm taking it back."
In the middle of this emergency, he was calculating the value of the spoils and planning to bring them back. Hyune felt genuine respect welling up from the bottom of her heart for this man's practical toughness.
"...Amazing."
"You all, take the safest route back to Falkenhart. You know the way, right?"
"Y-yes... But truly, thank you. I will never forget this debt for the rest of my life."
"It's fine, it's fine. Get the injured out of here quickly. I'll catch up later."
With that, Kai turned his back to Hyune. It was a back that was hard to call reliable—the relaxed, ordinary back of a normal young man. But to Hyune now, it shone brighter than any shield, any sword.
◆ ◆ ◆
The next morning.
The first floor of Vandur, the Adventurers' Mutual Aid Organization in Falkenhart, was filled with its usual bustle. The smell of ale drifted from the tavern, and adventurers crowded in front of the bulletin board searching for today's requests.
But that bustle turned into an especially loud commotion when Kai entered through the front entrance, his two golems carrying the special variant's materials.
"Wh-what the hell is that!?"
"Those golems are carrying... horns? Those are massive horns! And that black rock-like plate... what material is that!?"
Kai walked toward the reception desk, bathed in the stares of everyone around him.
One of the receptionists saw the materials Kai had brought and her eyes went wide.
"Th-this is... Kai-sama, what happened...?"
"Hmm, well, I ran into something big in the Crevasse Forest. These are its materials."
At that moment, a man specializing in material purchasing came rushing out from the back in a fluster. A fox-faced man wearing silver-rimmed glasses. The moment he touched the shell fragments the golems had placed on the floor, he gasped.
"Th-this is...!? No mistake... it's 'Iron Shell'...! Such a specimen existed in the Crevasse Forest!? Impossible, this is... C-rank, no, depending on the individual, this is material from a special variant equivalent to B-rank...!?"
The purchasing agent's trembling voice instantly silenced the tavern's commotion.
C-rank. B-rank.
To a newcomer F-rank, those were existences far above the clouds.
"Ah, so it does have that kind of value. Good, good. By the way, how much would the purchase be?"
"Y-yes, combining the shell and horns... th-this
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