When humans who had gone through puberty underwent the Occupation Acquisition Ceremony, their muscles morphed to be ten times stronger than the average person’s. There was some variance, depending on magical skill and weaponry, but even a group of ten men generally couldn’t defeat a human who had received an occupation.
Then, those with occupations learned how to use their power, which made them even stronger. Those as strong as Camilla were quite literally a one-man army.
However, when support casters received their occupation, they barely became stronger. It was incredibly rare that a support caster could make himself as powerful as other occupation holders just by casting buffs on himself. Thus, there was only one ultimate use for us—to cast buffs on our comrades, lay low, and stay out of the way. Us support casters were hard to utilize, and it was obvious why there were so few of us within high-level parties. Not only were we weak, but it was also hard for us to have any other use. The only advantage of being a support caster was that we could fight immediately after receiving our occupations, since our bodies changed so little.
The golem turned towards me. My limbs started to shake. It was weird—I wasn’t scared, but this always happened to me whenever I faced a big monster. Maybe I was just a coward.
But this was no time to think. My only option was to fight with everything I had, knowing my comrades would have my back if I needed them.
I unsheathed my machete. It had been a while since I last used it in the labyrinth, but I was hoping I would be fine, since I kept up with my training.
“[Pump Up: Zweimal.]”
There was one major difference between casting buffs on others and casting them on yourself: you didn’t need to create the path that delivered your orders to who you were casting on. This meant there was no time lag, so I could be much more exact when manipulating my buffs. I could cast multiple, dense, doubling buffs on myself. Essentially, I could double-cast buffs that I could typically only cast on a muscle once during the same fixed interval.
If my buffs weren’t going to last, I needed to make sure this battle was short. And obviously, I needed to attack first.
I gripped my machete firmly in my right hand. What came next was a risky balancing act of chance. I needed to cast the right buff on the right part at the right time. One mistake meant immediate defeat.
I enchanted my torso, right leg, and left hand. The last would bear the brunt of the recoil. I pulled back my left leg and kicked the ground with my right leg, quickly propelling me forward. My body flew through the air.
My target was the golem’s legs. I slashed into its right thigh, keeping my focus to make sure I completely severed it. However, the mud resisted my blade, and I could feel it through the hilt.
It made it! I was still carrying the momentum from launching myself in the air, so I did a spin. Basically, I was treating this golem like a tower made of blocks.
Next, I momentarily increased the strength of my left leg and right arm. I stuck my left leg forward and kicked the golem’s severed leg as far away as possible. Then, I put some distance between myself and the monster as soon as I hit the ground.
I did it! Without its right leg, the golem was knocked off balance. It put out its right arm on the ground for support.
I braced for the pain. I had placed powerful strengthening buffs on my body, but given how weak I was, there had to have been some calculation errors that would hurt me in some way. If I messed up significantly, it could even spell immediate defeat.
“Huh?”
The pain never came. Why? Had I gotten stronger? Had my calculations been more accurate than I had thought?
Unfortunately, I didn’t have the time to think. The golem had been knocked over, but it was funneling mud over to where its missing right leg was to regenerate.
I jumped back into action. Its right shoulder was on the ground, and I sliced my blade right through it. At the same time, I burst through the rest of its arm with my legs. I sheathed my blade so I could catch my landing with both arms. From the handstand, I used my elbows to spring back into the air and distance myself from the golem. I could see that it had now completely toppled on its right side. Once again, I braced myself for pain. It never came.
Maybe I could keep this up for a little longer?
I was drunk on the sensation. I was normally the type who never got greedy, but that wasn’t true now. Whatever was stopping me in the past was mostly gone.
“[Pump Up: Dreimal.]”
I tripled my strength. It was do or die.
I strengthened both my legs. Then, I placed strengthening codes spreading from my spine to my extremities at a 0.01 second delay. I leaped into the air with my right foot, landing on the highest part of the labyrinth walls I could manage. Then, I kicked off the wall, letting gravity do the work as I shot towards the golem’s chest.
Just before I landed, I buried my blade into its muddy torso. Only a moment had passed. I could keep going.
I slashed a second, then a third, then a fourth time. It had still only been a moment.
Five. Six. Seven. Eight. Nine. Ten. Eleven. Twelve. I continued to hollow out the golem’s chest.
I finally found its core. It had still been less than a moment.
I stabbed my blade forward and crushed the core with my last remaining strength.