Shinso, on the other hand, couldn't help but feel a little amazed. "That's a stone golem, eh?"

  He smirked, walking over to the animal as he opened his mouth. "Wanna eat my friend, fella?"

  The beast turned to him, its lips parting slightly. The stone golem let out a low growl that shook the earth. Suddenly, roots burst from the ground, coiling around Shinso's arms, legs, and neck, stretching them taut, but not enough to directly choke him. This pulled him to his knees, having him struggling and writhing in the stone golems grip.

  "What were you thinking?" Humphrey scolded, groaning as he pulled out his gun, immediately firing bullets that pierced the golem's skin.

  Wherever the bullets landed, more stone, roots, and foliage encircled the puncture wounds, revitalizing them and healing them as if they never existed to begin with. This only seemed to agitate the beast, making it swing its large arm in a swatting motion, knocking Humphrey back and sending him into a tree. Humphrey coughed up a copious amount of blood, crying out in pain as he slumped back, his breathing gradually softening.

  "Shit!" Shinso continued to snag and pull against the vines binding him, his gaze continually fixed on the stone golem.

  The behemoth before him roared, a deathly sound that echoed through the forest. With another powerful move, it ripped Shinso from the vines binding him, grabbing his body with an iron grip. Its large stone hands encircled his entire torso, holding him tightly in its unyielding grip.

  "Damn it, damn it, damn it!" Shinso repeatedly kicked and writhed in the golems grip, trying his hardest to wiggle himself free.

  He watched, his skin standing on end as the stone golem opened its mouth, revealing the inside of its digestive cavity. Its throat was lined with countless thorns, like the ones that lined the stem of a rose. The walls of its mouth were also made of stone, and its tongue was a dilapidated amalgamation of dead animal remains, ice, and roots.

  He spotted a nest in the back of the golem's throat, one that belonged to a bird much bigger than one he'd ever previously seen. Its feathers were crimson red, while its eyes reflected an eerie green hue. Within its nest, which was made of sticks, twigs, and moss, were a cluster of malformed baby birds. Some of them were missing heads, while others were missing wings, other babies were simply skeletons.

  "What the..." Shinso's face turned abnormally pale.

  Just then, he felt buzzing in his pocket. It was the bronze pocket watch! But why would it activate at this given moment? Shinso, feeling a surge of puzzlement, temporarily focused on the watch in his pocket, feebly moving his hands to grab it. He slowly dove into his pocket, grabbing the pocket watch with trembling hands.

  The pocket watch suddenly ascended into the air, illuminating with a radiant, bronze-colored light. The light ebbed and pulsed at the monster, causing it to shriek and let go of Shinso. Shinso fell into the snow, watching the pocket watch continue to react as he regained his equilibrium. Humphrey, who was barely conscious at this moment, chuckled feebly as he observed the scene.

  The pocket watch continued to change, diffusing into spheres of liquidus light. This light slowly circled around Shinso repeatedly pulsing and contorting like they possessed a life of their own. The stone golem continued to retreat, backing up as it moved to cover its eyes. Shinso watched in quiet amazement as the spheres of light condensed into the shape of a sword.

  The sword had an iron hilt, one laced with intricate patterns of machinery, clockwork, and divine sigils. He couldn't read or interpret any of them, but he didn't seem to mind. Shinso caught the sword before it could hit the ground, raising it above his head as his lips twitched up to form a smile.

  A torrent of information suddenly coursed through Shinso's mind, informing him of the sudden changes of the pocket watch.

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  It was called the Sword of Judgement, giving him the ability to make low-level deductions and judgements much faster than the average person. The sword could also emit beams and attacks of almost Titan-level power, giving him a qualitative upper hand in most combat situations. The only downside of the sword was that if the user of the sword were to use it for evil purposes, it would cause backlash and immense pain to the user.

  Upon realizing this, Shinso's brows furrowed as he felt the sword's effects truly take hold. If defeating this stone golem in single combat was for the purpose of ingredient collection, was it truly an evil deed?

  Shinso, taking notice of the sword's ambiguous condition, suddenly closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Within his mind, he began to focus on the stone golem in front of him, visualizing a clear picture of his enemy. Using a Scale-Shifter's ability to make abrupt judgments and deductions, he recalled everything he had seen when fighting the golem.

  While he was in its grasp, Shinso had noticed the state of its mouth. Near the back of its throat was a large bird's nest, housing birds of many conditions—some alive, some decaying, and others that still moved upright while only being skeletons. Upon recalling this, his brows furrowed in confusion.

  Why would the golem's mouth be so peculiar?

  He also remembered what he had seen while walking through the forest with Humphrey. For the most part, they'd only seen the Hemlock spiders, nothing else in terms of wildlife. Thinking deeper, he also remembered other peculiarities with its mouth. The stone golem's tongue was composed of foliage, ice, and animal remains. A pair of deer antlers were perched atop its head.

  At this moment, he opened his mouth upon realizing the truth. This stone golem had been eating the wildlife, while also hosting a family of birds in the back of its throat. But why?

  Shinso's grip on the sword tightened a little, holding the weapon above his head. His eyes scanned the entire stone golem, looking for any hidden weaknesses he could potentially exploit to an extent. Just then, he caught sight of the wounds where Humphrey had shot the stone golem in the chest. The bullets had pierced the stone, with vines and roots coiling and working to restore the wounds and close them.

  Shinso couldn't help but smile as he stepped forward, moving closer and closer to the stone golem. The beast turned to him, letting out a deafening roar that shook the entire forest. More roots and vines shot up from the ground, attempting to coil around Shinso. Shinso reacted quickly, swinging the sword downwards and cutting the foliage into pieces.

  ...

  Humphrey's singular working eye, still blurry around the edges, fixed on Shinso. He slowly leaned up, wincing at the pain that coursed through his back. He was sure he didn't break his back, as the force of the golem's attack wasn't enough to severely break any bones. Additionally, the bark of the tree hadn't been shattered by the impact.

  He couldn't help but smile as he adjusted himself, his trembling hand making its way into his leather bag. Humphrey dug for a few moments before taking out a small object. It was bronze in color—also very small in shape. This small object suddenly lit up with a green hue, its mechanical gears and flaps unfolding. Humphrey looked to Shinso, tossing the object in his direction.

  The small object landed in the snow, the radiant green light expanding, melting at the surrounding environment. Shinso didn't pay much attention to the object, nor did he question its purpose. Even with all his previous training back in his home reality, Shinso still wasn't that physically adept. He moved forward, narrowly ducking an attack from the stone golem.

  Raising his sword, he ran forward and plunged it into the depths of the creature's chest cavity, making it cry out. This victory, while accomplished, was also short lived. The large, sword-sized puncture wound suddenly split open with a grotesque sound. From within the hole, the countless birds swarmed out, all in various conditions.

  They swarmed and pecked at Shinso, making him wince and grit his teeth. He ignored this, the sword illuminating a bronze-colored light as he sank it deeper into the depths of the golem's chest. Suddenly, the hilt and blade of the sword began to buzz, the bronze light abruptly shifting, turning a malevolent crimson.

  A torrent of information hit Shinso, making him step back, instinctively covering himself to avoid the swarm of birds. This information had told him that this decision was actually wrong. He didn't need to kill the stone golem; he simply needed to reason with it. It only acted that way because he and Humphrey had walked into its territory during feeding season.

  It wasn't eating these creatures out of rage or animalistic instincts, it was working to survive—continuing the cycle of life and death bound to all living things.

  "W-wha?" Shinso abruptly lunged forward, removing the sword with a slick slicing sound. The moment the sword was removed, all the birds around him withered and decayed, falling to the snow in piles of soot and ash.

  The stone golem's body worked to repair its wounds as it knelt down, gazing at the piles of ash where the birds once sat. the blue gemstones it had for eyes abruptly softened to an extent, and it let out a low whimper as it picked up the piles of ash, holding them to its nose.

  "I killed your friends; no wonder you kept them in your mouth... you wanted to feed them," Shinso whispered, acknowledging the predicament.

  The large bird, the red and green one the size of a dog, flew out of the golems mouth and landed on its head, cawing quietly as it looked at the ashes where its babies once were.

  "I-I'm sorry..." Shinso knew the golem couldn't understand human language, but he still felt the urge to say it.

  At this moment, the golem looked to him, its gemstone eyes glistening in the setting sun. with a slow, deliberate pull, the golem reached up and ripped out one of its eyes in front of Shinso. Shinso's face paled as he stumbled back, shocked as to why the golem would do such a thing.

  "I-it...wants you to take it." Humphrey, who had now recovered, approached the small device in the snow, shutting it off.

  "Take it? I just killed its children." Shinso said, confused.

  "Stone golems can feel the remorse and pain of others. It knew the current famine was making food harder to get, so it ended the suffering of other animals in the forest."

  "R-really now..."

  Shinso looked back to the stone golem, taking the blue gemstone that it had for an eye. He watched as vines and foliage intersected and crossed over the gaping hole where the golem's eyes once was, repairing the tear.