The Golem Mage

While the orcs charged forward, Hunter simply stepped ahead and swung his right hand in a full arc.

The moment the swing was completed, the whole world seemed to fall silent, and the area around him dimmed into a grey haze.

A powerful slash carrying a strange grey energy tore through the air, unfortunately for the first wave of orcs that had rushed at them, they were all severed clean into two at the waist region,

The slash continued until it reached Orga, forcing her to turn back and raise both hands in defense. Even then, the residual force from Hunter’s strike sent her flying straight into the orc settlement, smashing through one house and bursting out of another.

In fact, any orc unfortunate enough to be in her path before she regained control of her momentum was crushed apart by her body, thrown away by what had looked like nothing more than a casual swing.

Only those behind her and those who had been outside the range of the earlier strike grey slash had been lucky enough to survive the attack and were still left standing.

They could only stare at the dreadful figure in dark blue iron armor towering before them.

This time, not even the green orcs dared rush forward recklessly again, though they were battle-loving and crazed, yes, but they were not stupid.

They could clearly tell when they were outmatched, and when they looked at the golem standing before them, wielding a massive two-handed sword in one hand as though it were weightless, while his left arm ended in what looked like some kind of vicious hook mechanism, they felt fear.

A deep-rooted fear they had never known they possessed.

Almost unconsciously, their heads began turning toward the Red Orcs behind them, hoping they would step forward and take on this freak of nature instead, so they themselves could return to fighting the others behind him, who at least felt like were a more normal kind of enemy they faced.

But even the Red Orcs who had come with Orga couldn’t help frowning in confusion, the thought of stepping forward alone never once crossed their minds.

They had all clearly seen what happened earlier.

If, at the last second, Orga hadn’t turned and summoned her spirit Gauntlet to cover her hands and deflect the Grey energy towards the skies, they were sure that the slash would have still continued along the path the golem had set for it.

And in that moment, only one thought kept circling through their minds: if they had been in the path of that blade, would they have survived, or would they have perished like the green orcs at the front—severed clean into two parts?

“I’m so tired of everyone looking down on me,” a heavy sigh came from behind Hunter’s mask after he spoke.

He was the great mage killer golem, created with one purpose in mind by his master, to be the most efficient killer possible.

Yet because of his mild manner, he had come to realize that he was the one people underestimated the most, and he hated it.

Suddenly, from the last building Orga had crashed into, she burst out laughing wildly. By now, the orcs across the settlement had all gathered around them, yet even they were not attacking.

Since the other orc soldiers they saw were still on standby, they too decided to wait and see what was really happening.

At that very moment, Vermis dashed forward, bursting out once again in a red blur, the two unfortunate Red Orcs who just happened to be in his path never even had the chance to react, as they lost their heads the instant Vermis passed by them.

He was moving too fast, even for a Tier 7 lifeform, he had felt left out after Hunter took the lead in striking Orga, who clearly seemed to be the strongest combatant among the orcs present.

So Vermis decided to close in and finish the job.

“Star Knight, cooperate with Vermis’s summons to kill every single orc present, not a single one should leave this place,” Hunter ordered his top captain, a golem crafted from the same material as himself, only smaller and with two proper hands.

However, he also turned to look toward the Draugr after finishing his instructions to his top captain.

“I hope you understand the words I just spoke,” he said to the undead, whom he still wasn’t sure could even be properly classified as a golem.

(Since the main golems possessed consciousness, they all had the ability to think, and have free will, they were clearly different from other golems, however they all still have a m terrifying loyalty to their master, since he was the one who had created them.)

In response, the Draugr nodded.

“Don’t worry, Lord Hunter. Me and my team know all about death,” the Draugr said as the four death knights behind him all drew their swords from their scabbards, while the bone-blood hybrid golems simply turned to face the orcs like starving beasts.

They said nothing, only seeming eager to tear into their opponents.

Elsewhere, Orga, who had emerged from the debris, only saw Vermis rushing toward her, but she had already lost interest in him.

All her attention was now on Hunter instead, because he was the one she judged to be the stronger of the two.

And that was understandable, because even if Vermis managed to fully step into the High Tier 7 realm, which was the lowest realm among the main golems apart from him, he would still need time before he could reach the level of weapon mastery the older golems already possessed.

In a battle between mages of the same realm, victory was often decided by the other factors: who had the better weapon mastery, who had the stronger bloodline, who had more luck, or who still had hidden cards left to play.

And currently, Vermis couldn’t even match Hunter in skill, let alone stand on the same level as the top golems like Oni, Butcher, Hive Queen, and the others before him.

Orga stretched out her hand and summoned a single-bladed axe, one side was sharpened into a vicious edge, while the other was blunt, as if it had been made to crush like a hammer.

As Vermis got closer, she extended her right hand, gripping the massive axe now engulfed in flames.

Whack!

In one motion, Orga smashed Vermis straight across the jaw with the blunt side of her axe, sending him flying completely out of her sight so she could focus on Hunter.

But the moment she raised her head after knocking Vermis away, she realized Hunter was already only a few meters from her.

She smiled and twisted her weapon, turning it back to the bladed side before swinging out in an attempt to cleave him in two.

However, as if he had already calculated her move, Hunter drove his sword straight into the ground the moment he reached a certain spot.

Clang!

The axe head got caught the instant it entered his range, hooked firmly by the sword, no matter how much force Orga poured into it, she couldn’t budge the blade from where it stood.

The moment she raised her head, she saw Hunter’s left hand moving toward her.

In that brief but intense instant, she chose to retreat, leaving her weapon, just wanting to avoid getting trapped by whatever kind of hand that was.

But Hunter had already seen through her intentions. His hooked hand shot outward, wrapped around her neck, and clamped down hard.

Immediately, Orga moved both hands to her throat, trying to tear herself free from the restraint, but Hunter closed the distance and used raw strength to slam her straight into the ground before dragging her across it.

After a few seconds of that, he swung his arm again, this time hurling her through house after house.

The banging sounds echoed each time her body smashed through another building.

“Hey, Vermis, can you help me finish her off and come assist me soon?” Hunter called toward Vermis, who had already reappeared on the roof of one of the houses to his left, calmly cracking his neck back into place.

“No problem,” Vermis replied.

Hunter then stepped back, pulled his sword free from the ground where he had planted it, and continued walking toward the castle ahead.