The Golem Mage

#Back at the city under Saint’s command.

Saint stood at the center of the throne room, unsure of what to do as he paced back and forth, waiting for another response from the Mother Mind, who was no longer communicating with him.

All it had told him was that someone had been sent to take charge of the situation, yet Saint had still not seen anyone appear.

Boom!

A powerful explosion rocked the city from outside, which caused Saint to immediately spin around, his eyes widening in surprise.

However, it was not merely the sound of the explosion that had caused him to react.

He had felt the death of one of his captain-rank golems, the golem in question had been guarding a section of the city wall alongside some of the Amazon archers providing support.

The fact that it had been destroyed meant that the Orcs had already breached that section of the city’s defenses.

“I definitely can’t remain here any longer. I won’t wait until the Orcs invade the city,” Saint said as he stretched one hand toward the air.

A small spatial crack appeared within the void before him, and the sword spirit belonging to his fallen golem flew through it and returned to his side, the blade, which had once shone brightly, had completely lost its luster.

There were also several cracks now spread across its surface, at that moment, Saint’s expression twisted with anger.

Nevertheless, he moved the sword behind his back, as a fog-like energy gathered around it, and once the mist dispersed, a perfectly fitted scabbard had formed around the damaged blade.

Just as Saint was about to storm out of the throne room, he noticed powerful spatial fluctuations outside, indicating that the teleportation gate had finally been activated.

“Finally, reinforcements.” He said.

However, before he could step outside to see which of the golems had come to his aid, a wave of freezing mist rolled into the throne room; it did not take long for Saint to realize exactly who had arrived.

“Titan!” Saint exclaimed in slight shock.

The first figures he saw emerging through the cold fog were the towering forms of Bulwark and Glacius, behind them walked Titan in his much smaller humanoid form.

His floating crown was missing from above his head, revealing that he had arrived fully prepared for battle.

“Saint,” Titan greeted with a slight nod after Saint called out to him.

However, Saint soon noticed something else, there were no other captain-rank golems behind the five who had arrived with Titan.

“You only came with five of your captains?” Saint could not help blurting out.

He immediately began wondering whether the Mother Mind was playing games or had simply neglected to inform Titan about the number of enemies they were facing.

It was not that Saint considered them weak. On the contrary, he believed his master’s golems were among the strongest forces when fighting enemies of the same realm, with no true competition apart from their other golems under their master.

However, even he had sensed the average cultivation realm of the Orcs outside, and he believed it would take at least three full squads of captain-rank golems to deal with the number that had appeared in a domineering way.

The fact that his master had not appeared immediately made Saint realize that Alec was most likely still inside the Amulet World.

Even so, he had expected reinforcements from the other cities as well, not just Titan and his five strongest Ice Golem captains.

“I’m more than enough,” Titan replied.

He walked toward the City Heart and placed one hand upon it, and before Saint’s eyes, the City Heart cube began to change, its golden exterior was gradually covered in frost, and within moments, the entire cube had been sealed beneath a thick layer of ice.

However, that was not the only transformation taking place.

Saint could feel the entire palace changing around them, frost had slowly started to spread across the floors, walls, and pillars as the castle seems to have began transforming into an ice palace.

[×: You have been granted twenty-four hours of access as the temporary City Lord.]

The projection of a featureless face appeared before Titan and delivered the notification.

Titan merely snickered.

“That’s more than enough time for me to finish the mission,” he said before heading toward the military barracks. Unlike the palace, which was still undergoing its gradual transformation into an ice palace, the military barracks had already been completely altered.

It was almost as though the military barracks existed within a realm of its own, completely different from everything surrounding it.

Even while standing near the structure, Saint could already feel dense frost energy clinging to his body.

Titan stepped inside and placed his hand upon a raised ice pillar, and a scanning process immediately began, lasting barely more than a second before a screen appeared in front of him.

Titan could now see the different types of units available for summoning.

Surprisingly, they were all humans dressed in fur-lined spirit equipment, with their descriptions stating that they possessed water affinity as their primary element and ice manipulation as a secondary branch of that affinity.

Each unit also seems to display certain characteristics belonging to one of Titan’s current Ice Golem captains.

However, although the highest level of summons cultivation was restricted to the mid ranks due to the current level of the military barracks, but even if a Tier 6 warriors summon should appear among them it would still never be as powerful as Titan’s captain-rank golems who were also at the Tier 6 realm, they were the same lifeforms whom he had summoned directly without using any item as a medium.

That was because the beings summoned from the military barracks were viewed more as regular military forces—soldiers organized into units and squads, though they might be a Tier 6 among them but it would only amount to an ordinary Tier 6 at best.

Titan’s direct golem summons, on the other hand, now had captain-rank talent, which made them one of the most talented magical constructs if their primary construct was excluded(Alec’s main golems).

They were capable of leading other forces and possessed skills that could strengthen the soldiers serving beneath them, as long as they had ice affinity.

In simpler terms, Titan already had five golems present that were capable of acting Hero-rank warriors ready to command whatever army he summoned.

Their only disadvantage compared to the current Heroes serving under Alec was that none of them had reached the high ranks yet.

After understanding the available units and their summoning conditions, Titan finally decided to summon two hundred human warriors divided among five different unit types, each corresponding to one of the five golem captains who had accompanied him.

Although they were human, that did not mean they all possessed ordinary human physiques. Some had massive bodies that rivalled the current compressed forms of Titan’s captain-rank golems, although this only applied to certain units.

The similarities they shared with Titan’s captains came primarily from their combat styles and preferred weapons, both of which appeared to have been influenced by the captain-rank golems serving beneath him.

Outside the military barracks, the summoned ice units began emerging in droves.

The first group consisted of two hundred warriors equipped with dual shields. They were of average human height and clad in thick, fur-lined armor designed to retain heat.

The shields they carried were physical weapons rather than constructs formed from ice; immediately after being summoned, they moved into formation behind Bulwark.

They were followed by another two hundred human warriors, this time armed with lances and shields.

The mechanisms built into their lances appeared highly advanced. Since Glacius could transform his weapon into almost any long-reaching cold weapon, there was a strong possibility that these soldiers possessed a similar ability.

The third unit emerged riding ice horses.

Although the horses appeared to have been created through magic, they seemed to possess a certain degree of intelligence, with large pouches strapped behind their saddles containing countless ice arrows, while the riders carried bows in their hands and axes across their backs.

The fourth group consisted of muscular warriors wielding massive bludgeon-type maces, the final unit also carried maces, but each warrior had an additional war hammer strapped across their back.

All five units used the same weapon styles as the five captain-rank golems they now stood behind in perfectly ordered formations, this was the clearest example of how a city could reshape its military forces to suit the preferences of its lord, after fusion.

The captain-rank Ice Golems were essentially branches of Titan’s power, affinities, and weapon mastery, each representing a different aspect of his abilities; his ten captains were intended to function like extensions of his own limbs.

And now, the five present captains each had a miniature army standing behind them.

Titan emerged from the military barracks and looked over the force of more than one thousand warriors gathered before him, with a satisfied smile appearing on his face.

“There is only one command,” Titan declared. “Leave no one alive.”

The five captains immediately began advancing, with their respective units marching closely behind them.

“Wait! If something like this was possible, why didn’t you tell me earlier? I could have summoned a thousand soldiers to support the city’s defenses, and the walls might never have been breached!” Saint complained turning towards the palace entrance even while he followed Titan away from the palace, which was still gradually transforming into an enormous structure of ice.

He knew very well that the AI controlling Alec’s main city—the one they called the Mother Mind—could hear him.

Yet it remained completely silent.

To Saint, that silence only confirmed his suspicion that the Mother Mind had not trusted him enough to turn the battle around, which was why it had chosen to call for Titan instead.