The Golem Mage

(Note: I made a mistake in the Chapter titled “A Request,” Chp 1166 where I mentioned that Titan was standing guard in one of the cities that had not yet been assigned a lord. In truth, he was acting as Brandon’s stand-in. It just so happened that Brandon’s city was the closest to the city that had once been occupied by the Orcs, allowing Titan to sense that it had come under attack. Although he wanted to move out and confront the enemy, however, the Mother Mind ordered him to remain where he was.)

In two different cities, Titan and Legion were summoned to the respective throne rooms of the cities by Alec’s AI, whom the golems all referred to as the Mother’s Mind.

Once they arrived, the AI projected a map displaying the entirety of Alec’s domain, revealing that one of its borders was still under attack by a second force after repelling the first unit of attackers, and this second force was much stronger.

However, they could also see another force advancing toward one of the other cities, the border city currently under Legion’s control.

Upon learning this, Legion chuckled coldly, almost grateful that the enemy had chosen to invade through the border under his protection instead, he then glanced at the holographic image of Titan being projected into the air by the AI, making it seem as though the two of them were communicating through a conference video call with the City heart’s Ai.

However, Legion’s smile did not last long.

The moment he heard the AI’s estimate of the enemy’s numbers and overall strength, his expression immediately darkened.

“At least five thousand body-heat signatures have been detected, with the lowest estimated power level being within the mid ranks,” the AI informed them.

Legion and Titan immediately began wondering what they were supposed to do.

Titan, in particular, finally understood why the AI had included him in the call despite his own border city not currently being in danger of getting attacked directly.

At that moment, the projection of the system spirit appeared before both of them in its golem body.

“Now, you had better listen carefully. I believe this is the only way we can keep that boy’s cities,your master’s cities,intact and prevent their defenses from being breached,” the system spirit said.

Titan and Legion instantly became serious, putting an end to all their previous bickering.

“Titan, you will move to the newly captured city that is currently under Saint’s command. You are to take temporary control of the city, by becoming its temporary lord, you will be able to summon your own army units.”

“And since you are connected to Alec through soul, you won’t have to go through the usual process of slowly fusing with the city before it begins assimilating with you, or do you need a token to get control.”

“Because you are Alec’s creation and are bound to him by soul, every City Heart under his control recognizes you as another branch of him, like a separate extension of his soul, from the moment you fuse with the city heart, every aspect of it will begin changing slightly to match your preferences by drawing mana from the surroundings.”

“We will use the emergency system points stored within the city to accelerate the complete transformation of its military barracks. That way, you will have an army at your disposal.”

“However, keep in mind that you are only permitted to summon around one thousand soldiers. Find a way to defend the city with them. The Amazon Archer Queen already brought some units from the main city and Saint has his sword golems there already, so I’m sure you should be able to handle this. Am I right?”

The system spirit asked after giving Titan a lengthy explanation, ensuring that he fully understood what he needed to do.

“Yeah, it won’t be a problem. I’ll also leave five of my captain-rank golems behind to guard this city and lead Lord Brandon’s military units to defend the city in case anything happens,” Titan replied.

The system spirit nodded, clearly appreciating Titan’s thoughtful arrangement.

After that, it shifted its attention toward Legion.

“As for you, you cannot possibly take control of a city that is still under the authority of a living lord without causing problems, so don’t even think about it. Arthur’s army is at your disposal to command. Brace yourself—the foreign forces will be arriving soon.”

The system spirit issued its final command before its projection disappeared.

“What do you say, Titan? Whoever’s side achieves the highest number of kills wins this round,” Legion said quickly before the AI severed the connection.

“Game on,” Titan replied from his side before walking away from the projection screen.

Legion and Titan, two of Alec’s most powerful golems, had been competing against each other for as long as they could remember; it had started with arguments over who was the more powerful of the two.

Then they began settling those arguments through sparring matches, with whoever won during a particular period earning an extra point.

However, their competition eventually derailed. Now, they would bet on even the smallest things, such as whose squad could kill a Tier 8 opponent in the fewest moves. Anything that allowed one of them to edge ahead of the other became another challenge.

The funny thing was that they were still locked in a tie.

Despite competing for so long against each other, neither had managed to gain a lasting advantage. Whenever Legion won one challenge, Titan would inevitably win the next.

Because of that, their rivalry had now become a competition to see who could secure two consecutive victories first.

“Bulwark, Glacius, call three others and explain the situation to the rest. We’ll be leaving for a while, so I’ll be entrusting this city’s defense to them,” Titan ordered as he began walking toward the teleportation axis, while the two captain rank golems went to accomplish his orders.

He on the other hand waited for the five captain-rank golems who would accompany him to assemble, before entering the teleportation axis zone, Titan raised his right hand toward the floating ice crown above his head, and grabbed it.

As if by magic, the crown liquefied and seeped into his right hand.

A ring-shaped engraving then appeared around his wrist, coiling farther up his arm like a frozen chain wrapped around it.

_ _

Meanwhile, inside Arthur’s throne room, after concluding his bet with Titan, Legion turned toward One.

“Bring the others up to speed and have them rally the city’s local military units. We’re about to receive a group of very rude visitors,” Legion said with a smile as he lowered his right hand.

Clutched in his grip was the handle of a weapon, as countless tiny nanobots continued gathering around it, rapidly assembling themselves into the weapon he intended to use as he walked out of the throne room.