I'm a farmer, not a hero : Chapter 51

The workshop.

Unlike the other layers of the inner dungeon, which are mazes filled with traps and monsters, the seventh is the only layer of the dungeon that is just an enormous room with four massive statues on each corner. As the name suggests, the workshop is where the different dungeon variables are made; from weapons and armors, to traps and monsters.

As soon as the farmer and the young cleric entered the room, they could hear the distinct sound of hammering something metallic. Following the sound led them to the middle of the room where, amidst the pile of weapons and armors, a dwarf wearing leather armor and a pair of goggles is smithing a sword.

"What's a dwarf doing in the middle of the dungeon?" The farmer uttered.

"What do you mean?" The young cleric asked.

"I mean, I thought only monsters reside in dungeons. Don't you think it's weird for an intelligent race to settle inside the dungeon?" The farmer explained.

"Now that you mention it… It is weird." The young cleric uttered.

"But maybe it's an undead dwarf cursed to make traps and armaments for the monsters of the dungeon?" She added.

"Probably…" The farmer replied.

"What do you think we should do?" The young cleric asked.

"We stick with the plan, we'll look for the portal that will get us to the demon king's castle. If we have to fight, then we'll fight." The farmer stated.

All of sudden, the dwarf stopped hammering.

"I would'a let you two go had yer plan been to just clear the dungeon…" The dwarf exclaimed.

"But as the Rat general of the demon king army, I couldn't jus' let what I heard be." He added before pulling one of the chains, one with a severed arm attached to it, dangling from the ceiling.

Just then, a horde of armored demi-human monsters came falling down from the darkness above, grabbing the weapons from the pile before turning to attack the farmer and the young cleric.

Surrounded, the two fight the horde back to back, with the farmer being able to destroy their armors and take them down with the cudgel.

Seeing one of the armored monsters he killed drop its weapon, a mace, the farmer quickly picks it up to give to the young cleric.

"Use this, it's quality is much better than the one you're using." He said to her, with the young cleric quickly taking it from his hand.

"Ya hav' a good eye fer things, but flattery won't get ya anywhere, young'un." The dwarf said to the farmer.

"It wasn't meant to flatter you but an advice for her." The farmer responded.

Using the enemy's weapon, combined with the strengthening buff, the young cleric was able to inflict significant damage on the armored monsters, eventually killing some of them; and after some time, the pair was able to clear the monsters, albeit exhausting the young cleric's stamina.

"Just rest while I finish this." The farmer said to the young cleric before approaching the rat general.

"It's over! Now show us the portal to the demon king's castle and no one else gets hurt." He threatened while pointing the cudgel at the dwarf.

"Ohh? But it isn't over yet." The rat general said before pulling out an orb, glowing with shades of blue, from his satchel and putting it to the spherical indentation on the ground.

The glowing light from the orb starts to dissipate evenly to the four corners of the room, towards the four gigantic statues. The ground starts to shake as the four statues start to mobilize.

"Behold! My grea'est creation! The golems!" The rat general shouted excitedly as the four golems approached the center of the room, towards the farmer.

"You think these will stop me?" The farmer said before charging at the golem closest to him, hitting it with the cudgel on its arm as it tries to block his attack.

The golem's arm was obliterated but kept moving to attack the farmer, with the latter dodging the attack before countering with an attack on its leg. With one of its legs gone, the golem fell to the floor, creating a shockwave in the process.

"Hide in one of the corners while I deal with these things." The farmer said to the young cleric.

Realizing that she's not gonna be of much help to him, the young cleric obliged to his command and quickly scurried to one of the corners, hiding behind the pile of rubble left by one of the golems' awakening.

"Ar' ya sure ya gonna be a'right by ye'self, young'un?" The rat general asked mockingly.

"I already took down one of your golems, it's only a matter of time before I take down the rest." The farmer responded.

"Oh? Ya think ya already defeated one of my golems, eh?" The dwarf stated.

"Watch out!" The young cleric shouted as the farmer, thanks to her warning, barely dodged the attack that came from the golem he thought he had incapaticated.

"What the hell? I thought I destroyed its leg." The farmer uttered.

"Ya see? This is why I deemed them as my grea'est creation!" The dwarf proudly exclaimed.

"Ya kno' young'un, as soon as I heard tha' ya could be wieldin' the sacred cudgel, I realized tha' tryin' ta make somethin' indestructible is jus', impossible… For that cudgel, nothin' is indestructible." He explained.

"Hence, I chose ta make somethin' tha' will regenerate itself, much like those monsters at the secon' layer." He continued as the farmer started to engage with the rest of the golems.

"I must say, I do applaud yer stamina, young'un… Even after fightin' those armored monsters, ya can still fi'ght my golems…"

"But fer how long will ya last?"

"Shit! I hate to say this but he's right. Even if I can fight these things for some time, I can't be locked in an endless fight." The farmer thought to himself.

"I have to do something about this." He said as he engulfed the cudgel with fire magicka to try if it would work.

"Heh? So yer gonna do it like the phoenix general, I see… I see…" The dwarf seemed intrigued.

But even after engulfing the cudgel with a strong fire magicka, it wasn't enough to deal permanent damage on the golems, only slowing down its regeneration for a few seconds.

"There has to be a trick to these things." The farmer thought to himself as he continued fighting with the golems.

Meanwhile, the young cleric sifts through the rubbles in the spot where one of the golems awakened to try to look for clues for defeating them, eventually finding cylindrical pipes protruding from the ground that led to the center of the room, where the rat general placed the orb.

Based on her knowledge of necromancy, from their fight with the veteran spellcaster incident, she deduced that the golems are being powered by the glowing light of energy that came from the orb, and that it would have a core inside it much like how the undead swordsman had a soul inserted on it by the veteran spellcaster.

"Those things should have an energy core inside them, if you can destroy them then maybe you can take them down for good!" The young cleric shouted to the farmer.

"A very perceptive young lady we hav' here!" The dwarf exclaimed.

"But ar' ya sure there's somethin' like that inside somethin' that big? An' how're ya gonna find it?" He taunted.

"Well, I'm already planning on pulverizing your golems anyway…" The farmer declared as he empowers the flame on his cudgel.

"Ya think tha' ember would be 'nough to destroy my golems, young'un?" The dwarf asked mockingly.

"No, but this will." The farmer replied before enlarging the ends of the sacred cudgel, surprising the dwarf as he's not aware of the cudgel's capabilities aside from its indestructibility.

Though the farmer is no battle genius, by instinct he knew that he had to increase the size of the cudgel to be able to damage as much of the golems' body as possible in order to find the core; and seeing how the flames slowed its regeneration, he plans to engulf as much of its body with fire as well.

And with that, the farmer started to engage all four golems at the same time, destroying its legs first to bring them down to his level while simultaneously burning them with the fire on his weapon. He continues to pulverize them amidst the sea of fire, moving as quickly as possible so as not to get burned by his own doing. Eventually, the farmer was able to find and destroy the golems' cores but the sea of flames had swallowed him.

"Tha's too bad! An' even after findin' those cores, he was done in by his own magic." The dwarf said.

"So, wha' d'ya plan to do now?" He then turned to the young cleric who had been quiet for some time, with her hands clasped together while kneeling to the floor.

"Who was done in by his own magic?" The farmer exclaimed as he emerged from the flames unscathe.

"Wha? How?!" The dwarf was shocked.

"Wait, is that… a barrier?!" He then uttered, upon seeing an aura-like light enveloping the farmer's body.

"Yes, it was thanks to her support that I was able to survive." The farmer stated while pointing at the young cleric.

The barrier dissipates as soon as the young cleric heard the farmer's voice, gasping for air as she was still not recovering from her fight.

"Heh? Wha' an interestin' pair as the hero party." The dwarf commented.

"First of all, I'm a farmer, not a hero…" The farmer remarked.

"And second, as I said before, if you show us the portal then no one has to get hurt… But since you haven't…" He then approached the dwarf in an intimidating manner.

"Whoa there, young'un! Calm ye'self! I did not say that I will not show ya the portal…" The dwarf stated, trying to negotiate as he backed away from the farmer.

"Look here! This device will open a portal to where ya wanna go." He stated while showing a door frame with some kind of magic machinery with a spherical socket attached to it.

"Is that so? All I see is a doorway without a door!" The farmer stated with an irritated voice.

"Tha's because I haven't inserted the orb waypoint yet." The dwarf said while taking out an orb from his satchel.

"How do I know that this isn't some kind of a trap?" The farmer asked with a suspicious tone on his voice.

"Ya don't, ya jus' gonna hav' to trust my word for it." The dwarf responded with the farmer glaring at him for it.

"Look young'un, ya can try to look for anythin' that may resemble a teleportation device in here but without me operation' it, it would jus' be a piece of junk for ya." He explained.

"And by 'teleportation device', I mean like the one the goat general used in tha' black tower. And yes, I know you've fought him, tha' bracelet on yer left wrist is his afterall." He continued.

The farmer paused for a while, trying to think about his options when the young cleric interfered.

"Why should we trust you? You said so yourself, you're the rat general of the demon king army and you couldn't just let us be after hearing we're going for the demon king's castle! For all we know you're just sending us to a trap!" She shouted as she approached the two.

"Yes, I did say tha'. But, even if I am a general of the demon king army, I will prioritize my life first, afterall, I'm an engineer, not a warrior." The dwarf reasoned.

"We don't have much of a choice anyway." The farmer uttered.

"What?!" The young cleric blurted, shocked at what the farmer was saying.

"It's just like the helper said, this is the shortest and fastest way to the demon king's castle." The farmer said, with him referring to the panther guide as the helper.

"And waltzing in straight to the demon king castle above ground would just attract the attention of the demon king's constituents that may result in more bloodshed." He continued.

"But like I said, what if it's a trap? What if we get sent to a different place instead?" The young cleric argued.

"Look, we dwarves are true to our word. I may be a general of the demon king army but I'm a dwarf." The rat general interrupted.

"An' to be honest, I would very much like to send ya to the demon king castle if that will get me to resume my work. Afterall, ya did destroy my golems and I would very much want to create another one and improve it." The dwarf stated before taking out an orb and placing it on the socket on the device, opening a portal.

"So if ya decide to trust me, then jus' go. But ya better decide fast, the portal won't last long." He then added.

"I'll go!" The farmer said.

"Look, I'll end this quest for both of us, okay? Then I'll return here using this teleporter thingy as soon as I can." He then said to the young cleric.

"No! I'm coming with you!" She said.

"We've come through this far, I'm not just gonna abandon the quest." She added.

"Okay, then I'll go first and make sure everything is safe." The farmer said before approaching the portal to enter.

As soon as the farmer entered, the portal suddenly closed.

"Ah, tha's why I said to decide fast." The dwarf uttered.

"You! Open the portal now!" The young cleric commanded, filled with anger as she tried to threaten the dwarf.

"I kno'! I kno'! Look, I'm tryin' to find a portal orb for ya!" The dwarf said while rummaging through his satchel.

"There we go." He said as soon as he found one before placing it into the teleportation device.

As soon as the portal opens, the young cleric quickly leaps into it, no longer caring whether it was a trap or not.