Grem is a type of being commonly found in all sorts of underground ruins.
It is said to have been created by a powerful Magic Empire in ancient times.
Of course, more people believe it can’t really be considered a magic lifeformโjust a highly complex product of magical engineering.
Regardless of what exactly a Grem is, one thing is certain: these things are quite a headache.
According to statistics, scholars have divided them into two types: general-purpose and military.
General-purpose Grem can handle various tasks, including guarding, transporting, construction, and moreโtheir strength is at least D-rank.
As for the military Grem, as the name suggests, their use is for combat, and even their lowest strength starts at C-rankโฆ
Naturally, there’s no way Shurim could take on a military-type Grem right now, so the one before her is a D-rank general-purpose Rock Grem.
That said,
Even the weakest Grem is still far beyond ordinary D-rank monsters. In dungeon ruins, Grem are the opponents adventurers least wish to encounter, becauseโฆ
“ใBPThoNPTM*KTPKยทM+PK์ผPM์ผRAใ”
“Fireball!”
A blazing Fireball slammed fiercely into the Grem, but after the flames faded, all that remained were some scorch marks on its surfaceโnothing else.
The Grem continued advancing toward Shurim at the same pace.
“ใBPThoNPTM*KTPKยทM+PK์ผPM์ผRAใ”
“Lightness!”
“XMPN.M+PK.”F]”
“Enhance!”
Relying on wind-attribute magic to lighten her body, and using Enhance to boost her speed, Shurim quickly widened the distance between herself and the Grem.
Fortunately, while this Grem was sturdy to an infuriating degree, due to its size, its movements were rather sluggish. Also, since this wasn’t a cramped dungeon, Shurim could always keep herself at a safe distance.
Of course, this was also because this D-rank Grem had no means of ranged attack. That made it a tough but rather helpless moving target, which allowed Shurim to appear a bit more at ease.
“If Fireball doesn’t workโฆ Then, Water Arrow!”
A Water Arrow shot out at high speed, aiming for the Grem’s head.
“Bee-beepโ”
The Grem crossed its two rocky arms in front of itself, blocking the Water Arrow’s attack.
ใ
X<TEMIONPTMATPKO+” << MFTPR.+ << PToMA$<4ใ
“Wind Blade!”
A green Wind Blade struck the Grem, leaving only a shallow scratch.
“This one doesn’t work eitherโฆ”
While maintaining her distance, Shurim kept moving around and thinking of a solution.
“Light and dark attribute spells don’t have offensive moves, so they’re useless. Non-attribute magic is mostly for meleeโฆ But close combat with a Grem is absolutely a bad idea, so that’s out tooโฆ”
Thud!
A tree was snapped cleanly in half as the Grem barreled into it, yet the Grem seemed oblivious to the fact that it could never catch up to Shurim, doggedly continuing in a straight line after her.
Shurim glanced around. Quite a few trees had been knocked down like this.
“This won’t do. I can’t just keep kiting it around. Grem don’t get tiredโthey have no concept of stamina. If this keeps up, I’ll wear out before it does.”
With that thought, Shurim stopped in her tracks.
ใ
โฆ.. “โ
“Light Flash!”
A dazzling flash shot from her hand, aimed directly at the Grem’s spherical head.
The Grem’s vision was temporarily scrambled by the light, and it lost track of its target, halting in place as its spherical head spun in search of its quarry.
Taking advantage of the moment, Shurim darted behind a large tree and disappeared entirely from the Grem’s sight.
Immediately afterโ
ใ
BXoMMNF*M’NโปใคP์ผPIIMใญPB
ใโ
“Earth Pit!”
The Grem, having lost its target, did nothing even as the ground suddenly collapsed beneath it, and so it tumbled straight into the pit.
Only after the pit grew deeper than the Grem itself did Shurim reappear.
“Intruder detected. Initiating elimination!”
The Grem’s spherical head locked onto Shurim once more.
Howeverโ
Bang, bang, bangโฆ
Each time the Grem tried to move, it crashed against the pit walls, completely stuck and unable to act.
“Against a mindless brute like this, this trick really does the job.”
Watching the Grem below, dumbly battering the pit’s walls, Shurim raised the Tree Demon Staff in her hand.
“Let’s see how much you can takeโฆ”
“Fireball!”
“Rock Bullet!”
“Wind Blade!”
“Water Arrow!”
She unleashed a barrage of spells, but the Grem’s Magic Resistance and Physical Resistance were both extremely high, so each attack had only a minor effect. Still, the accumulated damage finally sent the Grem into overload; its movements grew stiffer, and in the end, after a Rock Bullet shattered the metallic sphere on its head, it went completely limp.
Once she confirmed the Grem had indeed stopped functioning, Shurim finally let out a breath of relief.
To be honest, this Grem wasn’t exactly a difficult opponentโit didn’t pose much threat to herโbut taking it down was still a challenge like none before.
Its defensive power had already surpassed most C-rank monstersโฆ
“Sigh, I didn’t think I’d bring down a Grem so smoothly. Looks like the boost from the staff really helps~!”
Semilis popped out of nowhere. Even though she hadn’t been seen at all during the battle, here she was.
“โฆSince that was so easy, the second wave shouldn’t be a problem, right~?”
How did you get “easy” from that? Wait, so there really is a second waveโ
Crack! Crack! Crackโฆ
Just as Shurim was thinking this, the familiar sound came from all around her.
Waitโa-round?
Shurim immediately looked in every direction, and sure enough, multiple Grem emerged from different sides.
“Hey, Semilis!”
She turned, but there was no trace of the fairy.
“Intruder detected. Initiating elimination!”
“Intruder detected. Initiating elimination!”
“Intruder detectedโฆ”
Now was definitely not the time to complain about Semilis, because one after another, Rock Gremโeach wielding rocky arms thicker than Shurim’s waistโwere coming straight at her.
“Guess I’ve got no choiceโฆ”
Shurim let out a slow breath, her gaze sharpening.
“4XNP*MTMPN.M+PKO”F]”
“Enhance–!”
Half an hour later.
“Yo~, still alive, Shurim?”
Semilis crouched beside Shurim, poking her cheek with a finger.
Exhausted and sprawled on the ground, Shurim wanted to stop her, but she just didn’t have the energy.
Everything she’d just gone through was still vivid in her mindโshe’d never felt death so close before.
Going back to half an hour earlier: five Grem surrounded Shurim the instant they appeared, leaving her no chance to fleeโshe was forced to fight.
The only thing worth celebrating was that persistent spells like Enhance and Lightness, once activated, would not end as long as she kept supplying mana.
Thanks to that, Shurim managed to survive the Grem’s assault by constantly repositioning.
But the sound of those rock-forged arms whistling past her ears kept her heart in her throat.
There was no doubtโif she took a single hit, her body would be crushed, maybe even flattened into a pancake if she was unlucky. Would Semilis even be able to revive her thenโฆ?
If she died instantly, not even Semilis could bring her back.
Just as Shurim pictured her own demise, the swordsmanship of Haieral, which she had trained in for so long, finally showed its worth.
Shurim nearly forgotโshe wasn’t a pure mage. If anything, she was very much a Swordsman.
The Swordsman’s intuition allowed her to deftly dodge the close-range, continuous fatal attacksโand to notice the Grem’s weakness.
These Grem seemed to lack Teamwork.
When she noticed that the Grem would often injure their own allies while she dodged, Shurim realized the key to victory.
“In that caseโฆ”
On one occasion, after dodging a heavy punch, Shurim didn’t flee to safety but leaped directly toward the Grem that had just attacked, boldly jumping onto its shoulder before it could ready another blow.
Then, feeling the rush of another attack behind her, Shurim leapt away at the very last moment.
It was a risky moveโone misstep and she’d be dead on the spotโbut the results were immediate.
The attack meant for the intruder struck its own companion, sending that Grem crashing to the ground, the arm hit by the blow developing massive cracks.
If these had been intelligent beings, a brawl might have broken out, but Grem were creations built to follow ordersโthey didn’t even realize anything was wrong.
The Grem that hurt its ally didn’t so much as glance at the fallen one before resuming its pursuit of Shurim. The downed Grem, oblivious to being struck, was already trying to get back up, its gaze still locked on Shurim.