The Genius Programmer Turned Wizard - GPW Chapter 5: Event Match (2)

The wall crumbled, sending dust flying.

From within it, Crow thought to himself:

‘So this was all part of his plan.’

That wall wasn’t something a mere Ancient Golem could destroy.
Which meant he had somehow nullified the magic barrier protecting it.
Thanks to that, he’d succeeded in throwing the VIP section into chaos.

“Where are the mages? Someone stop that thing!”

“…Funny how the useless ones are always so quick to start barking orders.”

The nobles were yelling at the mages, and the mages were grumbling back.

But Crow ignored all the noise and kept thinking.

‘Fine. I’ll give you that.’

A calculated decision—knowing he couldn’t win against the golem directly.
That alone meant the guy wasn’t your run-of-the-mill mage.
But still, Crow had no intention of ending things here.

‘You’ve still got more in you, don’t you… friend?’

Magic Shield!

A glowing magic circle formed midair, and a massive Magic Shield appeared.

Boom!

With it, Crow shoved the golem back.

KWAANG!

The golem slammed into the arena wall, shaking the entire Colosseum.

Unfazed, Crow began chanting his next spell.

Earth Wall!

From the spot where the wall had collapsed, solid stone surged upward—sealing the breach.

Everything was restored to how it was before.

‘Now then… Shall we continue?’

—

“Ahhh! That’s the Chief Mage of a Magic Tower for you! Even seeing it with my own eyes, I can’t believe it! Truly worthy of his reputation—it’s Crow!”

Crazy bastard.

He didn’t just stop the golem… He rebuilt the arena without even blinking.

“Crow! Crow! Crow!!!”
“I can’t believe I got to see Crow’s magic with my own eyes…!”

The commoners in the stands went wild at Crow’s appearance.
Far from fear, the Colosseum was practically on fire with excitement.

Creak—

Meanwhile, now that the VIP section had been blocked by Crow’s spell, the golem turned its head—searching for a new target.

Its gaze landed on me.

‘…Shit.’

Without a second’s hesitation, the golem charged at me.

I tried to run—but my legs were lead.

Unlike before, when it moved in a consistent burst of speed, the golem now seemed sluggish.
But I was getting slower too—my stamina draining fast.

“Guh…!”

I barely managed to dodge the golem’s massive swing, throwing myself to the side.

Gasping for breath, I struggled to my feet and thought:

‘At this rate, I’m going to die before anything else happens.’

I couldn’t just stand around waiting for Crow to pause the match.
I had to do something.

‘But what?’

Trying the same strategy as before would only lead to the same result.

‘Damn it, what do I do…’

Then, I saw it.

Something shimmered on the golem’s left shoulder.

‘Huh?’

Was it from when it hit the wall? Or from Crow’s powerful push?

Either way, the golem’s left shoulder had a small crack.
And through it—I could glimpse something that looked like circuitry.

‘Could that be a weak point?’

…Probably not.

At least, not a critical one.

‘Think of it like a robot.’

A robot moves based on a central software somewhere inside.
That circuit was probably just a conduit—transmitting signals from the main software to various parts of the body.

Yeah, just a conduit.

‘Even if I cut that, the most I’d disable is the left arm.’

The key was the main control system—the “core software” running everything.

If I could hack that, sure.
But I didn’t have its code. I didn’t even know where it was.

…Wait.

‘What about reverse engineering?’

Reverse engineering.

Inferring a system’s structure by analyzing its behavior and results.

‘If I observe the golem’s responses one by one…’

I could work backward—“decompile” the code through deduction.

Cumbersome? Sure.

But not impossible.

‘Let’s do this.’

I got to work right away.

Adjusting distance.
Shifting the angle of approach from the golem’s line of sight.
Watching how it reacted in detail.

The delay between one action and the next.
Response priorities.
Exception handling.
Every minor behavior—I observed and logged it all.

I memorized each pattern and response as if I were inputting code directly into my brain.

“Haah… Haaah…”

Before long, I was gasping for breath.
My legs were shaking, threatening to give out any second.

But the puzzle—this code—was nearly complete.

And finally…

‘Found it.’

I’d found the vulnerability.

The only thing left was to write a code to exploit the weakness I had discovered—and embed it into the golem to shut down its functions.

I pulled up the code I had used earlier to break the magical barrier.

If I just modified this as a base, it wouldn’t take long.

So let’s finish this quickly.

If this were a company, I probably would’ve thought that way.

Features that weren’t even part of the requirement specs—unnecessary features.

No one appreciated them. In fact, they were resented. Just earned glares and disapproval.

I would’ve held it in and simply implemented what was necessary, cleanly and concisely.

‘There are still parts I want to implement, though…’

A code that simply ends with stopping the golem.

A code that gives up on going further and just settles for that…

‘That would just be pathetic.’

At that moment, I discarded the code I was about to modify.

From here on, it’d be faster to start from scratch than to tweak it.

‘Sure, maybe I’m being greedy…’

But my legs still moved, as if to deny what I had just thought was my limit.

If that’s the case, then I don’t want to stop here.

‘Let’s see what I can really do.’

My throat tasted of blood, and my legs felt like they were weighed down with lead.

Even so, the moment I focused on the code, all the pain faded into the background.

‘Define input values, then connect each action with functions and parameters…’

I poured every idea I had greedily into the code.

In the real world, it would’ve just been ones and zeroes—electrical signals.

But here, it’s different.

Here, coding is magic.

And with magic, anything is possible.

“`ML Script
if(signal = 0){
LegR.angle = …
“`

The code scrolled down rapidly in front of me.

I got so absorbed in the coding that I didn’t notice—

Cough.

Suddenly, I gagged on something rising in my throat.

A lump of blood.

It was like my body was screaming that I’d really hit my limit, that pushing further would kill me.

> “You really do look like you’re at your limit! But why aren’t you using magic at all? Is this rebellion? Giving up? Or maybe saving it for your grave?”

I guess that’s how it looked to anyone watching.

‘Yeah, I get it. But… just a little more, alright?’

Just a little more.

One more line.

One more character.

How long passed like that?

When I came to, blood was trickling from my nose.

But it didn’t matter.

The code was complete.

All that was left was to execute it.

—

Use mana type: Earth
Shape: Wall
…

As the first step, I cast a spell that I quickly modified on the spot.

Earth Wall_nerf

Since it was the same spell Crow used, there wasn’t much to change.

I just weakened the power, taking into account my pitiful mana reserve.

Rumble!

The damn Ancient Golem tripped over a small mound of stones that had risen from the ground.

BOOM!

This was the only chance.

“Grrk!”

I forced my burning legs to move and climbed onto the golem.

Then, I ran across its body toward its shoulder.

‘No matter how good the code is, it’s meaningless if I don’t plug it directly into the golem’s circuit.’

So I aimed for the damaged part on its left shoulder.

To jam the code in through that tiny opening, I had no choice but to get as close as possible.

‘Please…!’

At that moment, the golem suddenly jolted upright.

My body swayed dangerously.

‘I’m gonna fall…!’

I squeezed every last bit of strength I had to cling onto its shoulder.

“Kh!”

My stamina and willpower were both at their limits. I couldn’t hold out much longer.

But that was fine.

One hit was all I needed.

I reached for the gap in the golem’s shoulder—and fired Magic Missile.

Bang!

A light pop echoed.

‘…The code worked!’

The moment I felt success, a system window appeared before me.

—

[system message]
Controllable magical entity [Golem] detected.
Would you like to issue a command?

—

‘What is this, Bluetooth pairing or something?’

I locked eyes with Crow]and grinned.

Then, I gave the golem a command.

“Kneel.”

THUD…!
The golem knelt.

Translatin_Otaku

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