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 - Complete defeat against Malouno Kage, a spirit immune to physical attacks.
The atmosphere in the guild had clearly changed over the past few days.
The moment Kai pushed open the tavern door, several gazes converged on him at once. Appraising eyes, curious eyes, openly displeased eyes. But no one wore that mocking grin from before anymore.
"Oh, if it isn't the famous golem user."
A young swordsman drinking ale at the counter called out cheerfully.
"That special variant yesterday—did you really take it down? It's become quite the talk around the guild."
"Well, it just sort of happened. My two golems happened to be in good form, that's all."
Kai responded with a casual wave of his hand. His short black hair was slightly tousled today as usual. His black eyes were relaxed, as if to say he was in a decent mood.
(*So the evaluation's completely flipped, huh. Not bad. But it's not enough yet. This is just a stepping stone.*)
Deep down, he was analyzing his situation with cold precision. Since his days as a science researcher in his previous life, he'd never been able to shake the habit of measuring his circumstances in numbers.
He stood before the bulletin board. Quest requests written densely on parchment covered the entire wall. It wasn't his imagination that the requests he noticed now were all of a much higher rank than before. The Vandoor reception had acknowledged Kai's abilities and expanded the range of quests he could view.
(*Now then, what should I take next?*)
He traced the request forms one by one with his fingertips. Herb gathering, road escort, goblin extermination... all too safe.
(*I want something with a bit more bite to it, you know?*)
The urge to push his limits was growing. Yesterday's battle against the special variant had proven just how powerful golem coordination could be. The next challenge was to expand that potential even further.
His eyes stopped at the far edge of the board. A single request written in faded letters on old parchment.
**"Malouno Kage — Investigation and Extermination Mission"**
The client was the village chief of Touren Village. A small village about thirty kilometers northwest of Forkhalt. The damage from spirit-type monsters appearing on the second underground floor of the Mourveau Cemetery Ruins was reportedly increasing.
The reward was seven gold coins. Danger level: C-rank.
"C-rank! Oh, perfect. This is exactly the right next step."
Kai leaned in and read the details of the request carefully.
—Malouno Kage. A semi-transparent black humanoid shadow. Physical attacks are completely ineffective. Damage can only be dealt through magical attacks or special holy-attribute materials.
"...Physical immunity? What the hell, I've never heard of that."
His science-oriented mind reacted instantly. If physical attacks don't work, that means it either has no mass, or it possesses a property that allows attacks to pass through it.
(*But well, if magic can take it down, there's got to be a way. Besides, it's not set in stone that golem attacks won't work. There's a possibility golems could learn to perform attacks imbued with magical energy.*)
More than anything, Kai had an unfounded confidence. Through the previous two battles, he'd witnessed his golems' true strength firsthand. If physical attacks failed, he'd think of something on the spot. That was his optimism.
"I'm going to go register."
He handed the request form to the young female receptionist. She looked at Kai's face with a slightly surprised expression.
"You want this quest? An F-rank party that headed out for this quest recently came back with one member seriously injured. It's dangerous."
"Thanks for worrying. But I'll be fine. I'm a lot more shameless than I look."
Even as he cracked jokes, Kai's eyes were serious. The receptionist, hesitating slightly, proceeded with the paperwork.
"Understood. I'll provide you with a travel pass to Touren Village and a map of the ruins. Please, stay safe."
Kai accepted the pass and map, gave a slight bow, and left.
His first C-rank quest as an adventurer. His heart raced a little. That said, he wasn't nervous. He was aware he had momentum on his side.
He returned to the inn "Ram's Horn" to prepare. The landlady, Mira Horn, poked her head out from the dining hall.
"Oh, Kai. You're back early today. What's going on?"
"I'm heading up to a village in the north for work. Might not be back for two or three days."
"You've gotten busy, haven't you. That's not a bad thing. But don't push yourself too hard."
"I'll be fine. You sound like you've seen it all."
Kai laughed and headed to his room. In the corner of the room, the two golems waited without moving a muscle. Rock golems in the shape of great apes, their forearms and shoulder joints reinforced with iron. Height: 2.2 meters. Estimated weight: 300 kilograms. They should have been mere objects waiting for Kai's mental commands, but today they somehow looked reassuring.
"Alright, let's go. I'm counting on you again."
He lightly rapped his fist against the side of one golem. A dull thunk. There shouldn't have been any will within it, yet he felt as though the sound was a response, and Kai laughed to himself.
Half a day jostling in a carriage. He arrived at Touren Village while the sun was still high.
The scars of the great disaster two hundred years ago—the Rave rampage—couldn't be felt from within Forkhalt's walls. Once you stepped outside the royal capital, abandoned old shrines and half-collapsed stone walls dotted the roadside. Touren Village was also built atop such history.
A small village of about four hundred people. Pastures and wheat fields stretched out, continuing into a peaceful landscape. However, the air was somehow heavy. The villagers' expressions were uniformly stiff, and even those chatting by the roadside kept their voices hushed.
When he visited the village chief's house, a white-haired man past sixty greeted Kai with heavy movements.
"You've come a long way. Thank you for your trouble. So you came from Vandoor?"
"Yeah, name's Kai. I'm here to investigate and exterminate the Malouno Kage."
"I see... You're young. I won't say anything bad. Give up on those ruins. There's been something defiled there since long ago. I saw it once from a distance when I was young. Everyone who touches that black shadow has their life force drained and dies."
Kai nodded with a wry smile.
"Well, I'll make my judgment after seeing the real thing. My golems are a bit unusual."
The village chief said nothing more. He simply saw Kai off with eyes full of genuine worry.
From Touren Village, about four or five hours further west on foot. The Mourveau Cemetery Ruins sat halfway up a small hill surrounded by dead trees.
The remains of a village wiped out by plague three hundred years ago. Now half-sunken underground, it had become a three-level dungeon. Crumbling gravestones jutted from the ground. It had once been a communal cemetery. Stone paving buried in weeds barely conveyed that human life had once existed here.
Kai stopped just before the entrance. Since he'd departed past noon, the sky was already beginning to stain crimson. Night was bad. Spirits became more active in darkness. But if he entered the ruins now, it would be night by the time he came out.
(*Worst possible timing. But well, I'll probably have it defeated by the time I'm heading back. It's dark inside anyway, so it doesn't matter either way.*)
The first floor, danger level E, was a half-underground ruin where collapsed houses and gravestones lined up like a maze. Fallen timber and earth blocked the faint moonlight and outside light, and the smell of damp mold assaulted his nose.
"Stay alert, just in case. No telling what might come out."
Positioning the two golems at front and rear, Kai advanced carefully but briskly into the ruins. Here and there, old prayer inscriptions were carved into the walls. For the first time, he felt grateful for the reincarnation bonus that allowed him to read this world's script.
*"May the blessing of Lord Ruvan be upon us. Protect us from disease."*
(*A plague from three hundred years ago. The final prayers of this village's people still remain here.*)
For a moment, a chill ran down his spine. No, it was his imagination. He told himself that and headed for the stairs leading to the second floor.
The air on the second floor was completely different from the first.
A stone underground ossuary. The ceiling was low, and countless horizontal niches were carved into the walls, each one housing old funerary urns, scraps of cloth, and rusted ornaments. The stone paving underfoot was cracked, and blackened substances oozed from the gaps, filling the air with a foul stench.
The temperature dropped sharply. When he exhaled, he could almost see his breath turn white.
Kai unconsciously hunched his shoulders. His only light source was the pale blue glow of the magic stone lamp in his hand. The light reached only a few steps ahead at best.
(*What... is this sensation. Like every hair on my body is standing on end.*)
The two golems flanked Kai on either side. They felt no temperature. They felt no stagnation in the air. But as if sensing Kai's unease, they seemed to lean forward slightly. In reality, it was an illusion. Kai's mental commands had unconsciously shifted them into combat readiness.
Then.
A high-pitched ringing sounded deep in his ears.
(*...Tinnitus? No, this is—*)
The ringing gradually took on inflection. Like laughter. No—like the dissonant laughter of multiple voices overlapping.
It wasn't the wet sound of footsteps, either.
No, it was a presence of some kind.
Cold sweat dampened Kai's back. The lamp's light flickered.
From the depths of the underground ossuary, it appeared.
A semi-transparent, black humanoid shadow.
It stood over two meters tall. Instead of hair, black haze rose and wavered, its head's outline never settling. Its eyes were two points of red light. That light flickered irregularly, as if pulsing like a heart. Its outline wavered, its form thinning and thickening. Floating several dozen centimeters above the ground, making no footsteps at all, the black shadow glided toward him.
Malouno Kage.
Every hair on Kai's body stood on end.
(*That's... the Malouno Kage...!!*)
The air was cold. He could see his breath freezing white. Even the lamp's light seemed to cower before its presence, dimming and thinning.
But Kai tightened his lips into a determined smile and forced a bold grin.
"Heh, finally showed up, huh. I've been waiting. Let's go, Golem One! Two! Blow that black thing away with a lariat!!"
At his command, Golem One moved as if spring-loaded. The massive stone body kicked up the stone paving and tore through the ruin's air. Its long rock arm swept horizontally. The target: the Malouno Kage's chest.
"Gooo!! LARIAT!!!"
Golem One's iron-reinforced forearm struck through the Malouno Kage's chest in an X-shaped blow!!
It definitely struck through.
But there was no impact.
The golem's arm simply passed through the shadow.
Like punching water.
No—water would at least splash. This was nothing but air.
Golem One's momentum carried it completely off balance, and the massive body stumbled forward.
"Wha—!?"
Kai's grin froze.
"Two! Powerbomb! Lift that thing up and slam it head-first into the ground!!"
Golem Two circled behind the Malouno Kage. It dropped its hips and tried to wrap both arms around the black haze's torso. Those arms, too, passed through the darkness without a sound.
Clack, clack—only the hollow sound of the golem's stone arms locking together echoed. The shadow it should have been holding wasn't in its arms. The black haze merely swayed as if being embraced.
The powerbomb completely grasped at empty air.
"You're kidding... Nothing's connecting...!?"
The area that seemed to be the Malouno Kage's mouth twisted eerily.
*Kikiki... kakaka...*
A viscous, laughter-like sound reverberated through the entire second floor, as if rising from the bottom of an undergroun
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