Is It Wrong for an Extra to Steal the Protagonist's Harem?-Chapter 50: Moss Golem

"Moss Golem," I confirmed. "And it’s fresh. Less than an hour."

"It’s big," Emily noted, measuring the print with her hand. "Bigger than the textbook says."

"Maybe it’s a variant?" Martin suggested nervously. "Should we... go back?"

"We’re here for the Core," I said, standing up. "We follow it."

We tracked the beast for another hour. The forest grew darker, the trees twisting into unnatural shapes. The air grew heavy with the scent of ozone and rot.

Finally, we reached a clearing.

In the center stood a massive stone ruin—an old shrine overtaken by nature. And guarding it was our target.

The Moss Golem.

But it was wrong.

Normal Moss Golems were about three meters tall, made of gray stone and green moss.

This thing was five meters tall. Its stone body was black, pulsating with purple veins. The moss covering it wasn’t green; it was a sickly, glowing red.

[System Warning: Boss Detected.] [Target: Mutated Venom-Golem (Level 15).] [Danger Level: High.]

"That..." Alicia swallowed hard. "That’s not a normal Golem."

"It’s mutated," I hissed, drawing my obsidian sword. "It’s been feeding on a corrupted mana source. Look at the red moss. It’s toxic."

"What do we do?" Martin whimpered, hiding behind Alicia.

"We fight," I said. "Martin, stay back and cast [Haste] on us. Do not attack. If you draw aggro, you die."

"O-Okay!"

"Alicia," I looked at the redhead. "You’re the artillery. Hit it with everything you have. But aim for the joints. The chest is too thick."

"Don’t order me around!" she snapped, mana flaring around her hands. "But fine!"

"Emily," I turned to the Ice Princess. "We need to slow it down. Can you freeze the ground?"

"Easy," she nodded, gripping her staff.

"Let’s go."

I charged.

"Hey! Wait!" Martin screamed as I broke cover.

The Golem roared—a sound like grinding boulders. It turned its glowing purple eyes toward me.

THUMP. THUMP.

It charged. The ground shook.

"Fireball!" Alicia screamed.

BOOM.

A massive fireball slammed into the Golem’s shoulder. It exploded, scorching the black stone, but the creature didn’t stop. It didn’t even flinch.

"It has Magic Resistance!" Alicia yelled.

"Keep firing!" I shouted, sprinting to the right.

The Golem raised a massive fist and slammed it down.

CRASH.

I rolled. The shockwave lifted me off my feet. Debris rained down.

"Emily! Now!"

Emily slammed her staff down.

[Glacial Path!]

A sheet of ice shot across the clearing, catching the Golem’s feet.

SCREEE.

The Golem slipped. It crashed onto one knee.

"My turn!"

I activated my Internal Circuit.

[Mana Output: 100%.] [Speed: Boost.]

I lunged. I wasn’t aiming for the kill yet. I needed to expose the core.

I slashed at the knee joint. My obsidian blade sparked against the stone.

Clang!

"Too hard!" I gritted my teeth. "It’s reinforced!"

The Golem swung a backhand at me. I ducked, feeling the wind of the fist ruffle my hair.

"Acid!" I warned.

The Golem opened its mouth. A stream of purple sludge shot out.

"Shield!" Martin cast a wind barrier... on himself. The idiot.

"Alicia! Move!" I tackled Alicia out of the way just as the acid sprayed where she had been standing.

We tumbled into the mud. I landed on top of her.

"Get off!" she shrieked.

"You’re welcome," I grunted, rolling off. The ground where the acid hit was sizzling and melting.

"This isn’t working!" Emily shouted, dodging a piece of flying rubble. "Our magic is bouncing off!"

I looked at the Golem. Fire wasn’t working. Ice was just annoying it. Physical attacks were useless.

I needed physics.

’Thermal Shock.’

"Alicia!" I yelled, scrambling to my feet. "Can you superheat a single point? Not a fireball—a beam!"

"I... I can try! [Flame Lance]!"

"Aim for the center of its chest! Don’t stop until I say so!"

"Fine!" Alicia gathered her mana. A concentrated beam of fire shot from her hands, striking the Golem’s chest.

HISS.

The black stone began to glow orange. The Golem roared in annoyance, trying to block it, but Martin (finally doing something useful) cast [Gust] to blow dust in its eyes.

"Keep going! Hotter!" I ordered.

"I can’t hold it!" Alicia strained, sweat pouring down her face.

The stone was turning white-hot.

"Emily!" I turned to her. "Prepare your strongest localized freeze. Aim for the exact same spot!"

Emily’s eyes widened. She understood.

"Expansion and contraction," she whispered. "Clever."

"Now! Alicia, stop! Emily, fire!"

Alicia cut the flame, collapsing to her knees.

Immediately, Emily unleashed a concentrated blast of absolute zero cold.

CRACK.

The sound was like a gunshot.

The superheated stone, suddenly subjected to extreme cold, couldn’t handle the thermal stress. A massive fracture appeared in the center of the Golem’s chest armor.

"The Core!" I shouted.

Through the crack, a pulsating purple light was visible.

"Martin! Haste! On me!"

"Y-Yes!" Martin cast the spell.

My body felt light as a feather.

I sprinted.

The Golem was recovering, raising both fists to crush me.

"Alex!" Emily screamed.

I didn’t stop. I jumped.

I landed on the Golem’s knee. Then its shoulder.

I was face-to-face with the monster.

It opened its mouth to spray acid.

"Eat this."

I didn’t stab. I pulled the Smoke Bomb from my belt and shoved it directly into the crack in its chest armor.

Then I kicked off and backflipped away.

"Get down!"

POOF.

The smoke bomb wasn’t explosive, but inside the confined space of the armor cavity, the pressure built up instantly.

CRACK-BOOM.

The already fractured armor shattered outward.

The Golem stumbled back, its chest cavity wide open, exposing the glowing Heart Core.

I landed in the mud, sliding to a stop next to Emily.

"Finish it, Princess," I panted. "It’s all yours."

Emily looked at me. Her heart was pounding. She had never seen a strategy like that.

She raised her staff.

"[Ice Javelin]."

A spear of pure ice shot through the open chest, piercing the Core.

SHATTER.

The purple light died. The Golem froze in place, then crumbled into a pile of harmless rocks.

[Boss Defeated.] [XP Gained: 500.]

Silence fell over the clearing.

Alicia was on her knees, panting. Martin was hiding behind a tree.

I stood up, sheathing my sword.

"See?" I dusted off my uniform. "Physics."

Emily lowered her staff. She walked over to me. Her face was flushed from the exertion, her breathing heavy.

"You..." she started, then stopped.

She looked at the pile of rocks, then back at me.

"You’re crazy," she whispered. But there was a smile on her face. A genuine one.

"And you," I poked her forehead, "need to work on your aim. You missed the center by two inches."

Emily blinked, stunned. Then she laughed.

"I’ll remember that."

[System Notification: Emily Frost - Interest Level: 45/100 (Respect).] [Alicia Raven - Interest Level: 25/100 (Confused/Grudging Respect).]

"We got the Core," Martin cheered, running out from behind the tree. "We did it! Go Team!"

I looked at him.

"Martin," I said kindly. "If you try to hug me, I will throw you into the acid pool."

Martin froze.

"Right. Good job, team."

We collected the Core. It was heavy, pulsating with purified mana.

"We camp here tonight," I decided. "We’re too tired to move back."

I looked at the two noble girls, both exhausted, sweaty, and looking at me with new eyes.

"And tonight," I added, "I’m taking the first watch. You ladies earned a rest."

****

We sat around the Golem’s remains, catching our breath. The adrenaline was fading, replaced by the deep, aching fatigue of mana exhaustion.

I picked up the Golem Core.

It was the size of a melon, pulsating with a rhythmic purple light. Normally, a Moss Golem core would be green and steady. This one felt... wrong. It was hot to the touch, vibrating like a frantic heart.

"Emily," I called out, tossing it gently in my hand. "Take a look at this. Have you ever seen a Core with inscriptions on it?"

"Inscriptions?"

Emily walked over, wiping sweat from her brow. She leaned in, her blue eyes narrowing.

"That’s not natural formation," she whispered, tracing a jagged line etched into the crystal surface. "That’s... runic carving. Someone modified this Golem."

"Modified?" Alicia Raven chimed in, hugging her knees. She was still shivering slightly, though whether from the cold or the shock of the battle, I couldn’t tell. "You mean someone made it giant?"

"Someone fed it," I corrected. "Look at the moss. It’s not just mutated; it’s practically pumped full of steroids."

I dug my knife into the stone rubble where the Golem’s chest used to be. Amidst the gravel, I found something metallic.

I pulled it out.

It was a small, black metal spike, twisted like a corkscrew. It radiated a faint, nauseating aura.

[System Item Analysis]

Item: Fragment of a Demon’s Nail.] 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

[Rank: B- (Cursed)]

[Description: A device used by the ’Eclipse Cult’ to forcefully evolve monsters. Causes extreme aggression and mutation.]

My eyes widened.

’The Eclipse Cult? Already?’

In the original game, the Cult didn’t appear until the end of the first semester. They were supposed to be the villains of the Summer Arc. Finding their tech here, in the Freshman Expedition, meant the timeline was accelerating.

"What is that?" Martin asked, reaching for it.

"Don’t touch it," I snapped, stowing the spike in my dimension bag (well, my pocket for now). "It’s dangerous. Evidence for the Professors."

I stood up.

"This Expedition just went from a fetch quest to a crime scene investigation," I muttered. "We need to get this Core back to Cassandra safely. It’s proof."

"Great," Alicia groaned. "So not only are we lost, but we’re also carrying cursed contraband? My father will hear about this."

"Your father can complain later," I said. "Right now, we need to survive the night. The scent of this dead Golem is going to attract scavengers."

I kicked dirt over the purple blood pooling on the ground.

"We move camp. Upwind. Away from the smell."