The Genius Programmer Turned Wizard - GPW Chapter 15: The Shallow Hollow (8) (Part 2)

It wasn’t just heaviness.
His body was gradually becoming unresponsive.
No way—poison?

“You bastard!”

He looked at Ethan.
And the guy casually said,

“Just so you know, it’s not my fault. That stuff was already smeared on the blade.”

Paralysis poison!
The dagger had been coated with paralysis poison!

“Shit.”

His body began to seize up almost immediately.
The golem approached him as he lay there, unable to move.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
It stopped walking and raised its arm.

“Move! Dammit, MOVE already!!!”

It was hopeless.
Not even a twitch—
The massive stone fist inched closer and closer.

‘Am I seriously going to die here?’

“Godda—!”

Just then.
CLANG! A loud ring echoed out, and the golem stopped its attack.
It slowly turned its head.

There stood Ron, trembling as he held a steel shield.
Creaaak—!
The golem’s massive arm lifted toward Ron.

“Dodge it!”

Ron managed to throw his sluggish body aside, narrowly avoiding the crushing blow.
BOOM!
Struggling to his feet, he barely got up before the golem’s fist came down again.
This time, there was no way to dodge.
KA-BOOM!
A blow that would’ve crushed any ordinary person.
But—

‘This lunatic.’

Ron raised his shield and blocked the golem’s punch.
Or rather, it’d be more accurate to say… he withstood it.
His knee buckled, and the shield bent in.

“Ron!”
“I-I’m okay!”

No, he didn’t look okay at all.
And yet, the golem raised its fist for another strike.
BOOM!
The impact reverberated through the ground and reached even Liam.
But Ron was still standing tall.
He couldn’t hold out forever though.
The golem lifted its fist toward the sky again, and Ethan, tied up in the corner, sneered mockingly.

“Should’ve untied me when you had the chance.”
“Shut up!”

Once more, the golem’s fist crashed down toward Ron.
Liam, instead of clenching his eyes shut, turned his head toward the apprentice.

“How much longer are you going to stand there?! Hurry—!”

But then he realized.
Even in the middle of this chaos, the apprentice hadn’t moved an inch—
Still staring at the staff.
He hadn’t even reacted to Liam’s shout.

‘That’s some next-level focus…’

KRAKOOOM!
A thunderous crash pulled Liam’s attention back to Ron.

‘Ron…?’

Ron was still staring at the golem.
But the arm holding the shield hung limp.
Like a dead man’s.

‘No…’

People die in dungeons all the time.
Everyone enters knowing today could be their last.
So even if a slow, frustrating tank like Ron dies, it shouldn’t really matter.
And yet—

‘Shit. It pisses me off that he’s dying instead of me.’

And at this rate, his sacrifice would be for nothing—they’d all be wiped out.
To hell with it.
Ptuh! Liam spat with all the strength he had.
That’s about all he could do with a paralyzed body.

The spit struck the golem.
And the golem turned.

‘Ugh… sensitive bastard.’

Thud, thud, thud. The golem lumbered back toward Liam.
Facing what could be his final moments, Liam was overcome with regret.
He wished he’d had more fun.
Or maybe lived a more honest life.
Either way—what a crappy ending.

“Goddammit.”

Just as he closed his eyes—
Zzzzzzz—
A strange sound approached.
FWOOOOOOOSH—!
He couldn’t see it, but he could feel it.
Whatever it was swept past him—
And engulfed the golem, Ron, and Ethan one after the other.

RUMBLE RUMBLE RUMBLE!
Then, the golem began collapsing, powerless.

—

They did it.
He had hacked the staff, partially removed the restrictions tied to the stock, and successfully edited the code.
The edited code didn’t deal damage.
It just released a pulse of mana, dispersing all surrounding magic.
Only then did he finally notice what had happened while he was focused on rewriting the code.

“Mr. Ron?”

For some reason, Ron was a total wreck.

“Are you all right?”

At that moment, Ron swayed and collapsed face-up onto the floor.
Then, with a shaky left hand, he raised a thumb.
Thankfully, he seemed okay.
He looked over at the others.
Adeline was lying on the ground.
And Liam—

“I’m fine. It’s just paralysis poison.”

‘Is that so…? I did hurry as much as I could, but that was really close.’

Cold sweat dripped down his back.

‘Now, the only one left is…’

Ethan, still tied up in the far corner.

‘Time to find out.’

Time to see what kind of spell had been used to hack him.
…But something felt off.

‘That guy…’

The one who should be shouting and squirming louder than anyone—
Was dead silent.
Head bowed. Not even twitching.

‘What the hell?’

And then he realized.
The connection thread that had linked to Ethan was gone.

‘Did he cut the link?’

Even if he did, it didn’t matter.
The traces would still be there.
He approached Ethan and held the staff near his forehead—where the thread had been linked.

And then he realized.

“You son of a bitch…”

Ethan had burned away all of his consciousness and escaped.

Translatin_Otaku