Those numbers were not in my favor, especially the strength rating. But the goal wasn’t to win, it was to create attrition. She might have 150 golems ready to march on me, but how many would be remaining when they made it to my Manor?
“Let the round commence!” the Judge bellowed. Immediately, a wave of Stone Golems came barreling out, 25 in total, marching as quickly as they could. The Karrack Towers and Karrack Golems began firing instantly, decimating the first six that came out. Though the route was short, the zigzag maze combined with the Slugtine trap proved to be wildly effective, as I had predicted. In less than a minute, the scouting wave had been destroyed, thanks to my equal number of Stone Golems, traps and Karracks waiting for them.
I had held off on firing the Gorn just yet. The first wave was usually useless, I had noticed. Most of the time, a small group of cheap units was sent merely for the purpose of giving the invader a glimpse of the battlefield. Firing the Gorn at the scout would alert Efera to my unit’s extra power.
Wave Completed! appeared in my vision. Next Wave: 10 enemies. I quickly readied up the interface, not bothering to do any tweaking. It was too early to make changes.
The second wave unleashed, revealing ten new golems that I had not met before. These were squat, blocky golems that had long stone tubes for arms. Flames came pouring out of the tubes, washing over the first Karrack Tower. The Wrench Golem I had placed leapt into action, zipping across the battlefield to repair the tower. Brilliant bursts of blue and white energy came crashing from both the towers and the Karrack Golems, trying to take down the first two invaders. They were hearty units, far tougher than the run-of-the-mill Stone Golems.
I tapped one of these flame golems to read the brief description.
Blaze Golems: Armed with portable Phlogiston Cannons, these golems have moderate resistance to magic damage.
My Wrench Golem just wasn’t fast enough to stop the concentration of ten flamethrowers washing over the Karrack Tower. The mana crystal atop the tower cracked and the entire thing fell to pieces, fading instantly. I ordered my Karrack soldiers to retreat as the enemy force started pushing through the new shortcut, making their way to the other Karrack Tower. I was tempted to use the Gorn, but not yet. I had other means of getting rid of these things.
With a quick tap of the Alchemical Barrage, I directed a downpour of Quicksilver onto the first Blaze Golem while simultaneously ordering a single Karrack Golem to remain behind. As the silvery substance splashed atop the Blaze Golem, it released a puff of flames to hit the sacrificial target. Phlogiston-derived fire and quicksilver were not friends in the least, and a great explosion washed over the area.
Much to my surprise (and delight) a chain reaction ensued, as the first Blaze Golem exploded from the damage, same as a Phlogiston Cannon. The first explosion hit the one right behind it, creating a domino effect, destroying all ten within a matter of seconds. The explosion radius was wide and though my barricades had damage reduction, they could not survive this attack. The entire first section of the maze was gone when the dust cleared.
I gritted my teeth and tried to remind myself that this was to be expected. I was going to lose pretty much the entire map by the end of the fight. But every unit I killed now I wouldn’t have to face later on. And besides, I quite literally had not brought out the big guns yet.
The round ended, giving me a chance to do a little bit of corrections to the map. With the first row completely destroyed, the Slugtine trap was useless. I moved my Stone Golems to occupy the small smoking crater as to actively fight any of the enemy forces that were emerging. I had nine Karrack Golems left and I moved them into a line formation out of the enemy’s pathway. This would let them shoot without having to worry about being hit by passing golems.
Next Wave: 30 hovered in my vision, causing me to hesitate to push the ready button. 30 was probably the main force. The Lady was not pacing out the enemy movements so far, meaning I’d be fighting a large clump of 30 at the same time. Now would be the time for my Gorn to shine. With a deep breath, I clicked ‘ready’ and waited for whatever was to come out of the entrance.
Immediately, a swarm of 30 Vulture Golems appeared on the map, flying forward in a straight line. My Karrack Golems started firing, but the Vulture Golems were too damn quick and barely took any damage. I counted as rapidly as I could to confirm the enemy was just composed of Vulture Golems and when I was satisfied, I held off on firing Gorn. Instead, I just let them pass. I didn’t even waste an Alchemical Barrage on them.
Vulture Golems only attacked the Mana Sphere. This meant they were of no threat to me. Rather than waste time and focus on fighting them, I just let them exit the map. Having flown over a few corpses already, each Vulture was fairly beefed up in health and my towers did nothing to stop them. One by one, each Vulture zipped out of the map, vanishing.
Round End! Next Wave: 25.
“So you just let them pass?” Lady Efera taunted. “You know a swarm that big will annihilate your Mana Sphere easily.”
“A shame there’s no sphere nearby,” I replied. “Just ready up.”
“As you wish,” she replied. I could sense a great deal of confidence in her voice here. Though I had taken out two waves easily enough, she wasn’t shaken. This could only mean that she wasn’t worried yet. Perhaps I should use the Gorn now, as a means to shock her into submission.
Anxiety surged through my stomach as I watched the battle begin to unfold. Twenty Siege Golems appeared on the map at once. These huge behemoths took up so much space that as they popped into view, they were forced to slide aside and forward to make room for all of these huge units. I didn’t know if I was impressed or terrified.
In unison, each Siege Golem clambered down on the ground, allowing for a long metal shell to cover it up. My Stone Golems tried pounding on these metal shells, but it was useless. These things were invulnerable until the two-minute timer wore off. I waited for five more of the enemy to arrive, but nothing came out. She was most likely biding her time—either that or she had no more room to send Siege Golems.
“I can still call this off,” Efera said. “Come now, Richard. Would marrying me be so bad? I’m sure we could respect each other’s pursuits.”
“You know, it’s funny, when I want to pursue someone romantically, I try to send them flowers, maybe write them a nice card. I don’t show up with an army to take their territory,” I replied.
“What’s romance have to do with marriage?” she replied. “Leave romance to the peasants and the poets. I’m proposing a cold union for the sake of power. Hell, sleep around for all I care, it doesn’t matter to me.”
“Would those be your vows at the altar?” I asked, shaking my head. I wasn’t a particularly romantic individual, sure, not one driven by burning passion or lust, but if I was going to settle down, I’d at least make sure my partner would like me in some way. Or at the very least not be determined to burn down my house with me inside of it.
“Feh, not only are you naive, but you’re also foolish,” she grumbled. “Just wait until those engines awaken. Then you’ll be begging for my hand in marriage.”
Chapter 42
The behemoths woke up. Their shells rapidly retracted and each massive construct stood up in unison. Yellow armor bars appeared over their heads, barely dinged by the combined attacks of my Stone and Karrack Golems. It was time to use the Gorn.
First, I had to make a choice. Drop Ichor on the Siege Golems to stick them in place and hope the Gorn’s barrages would break their armor quickly or throw Sandozium and ensure the armor was gone but allow them to move at full speed…a tough choice. In the end, I decided to opt for more time. Hopefully the Gorn would be able to break their armor.
I activated the Alchemical Barrage once more, dropping Ichor on the slowly lumbering golems, sticking them in place.
“My, how you love your alchemical barrage,” Lady Efera muttered under her breath.
“Not as much as I love what�
�s coming next,” I replied. I selected the Gorn and targeted the area where the Siege Golems were stuck, struggling to move past one another. Before the Treasure Golem fired off its cannon, however, I was greeted with a prompt.
Select Ammunition Element:
- Fire: Ignites targets upon impact, burning away health.
- Ice: Slows targets down by 50% for 10 seconds.
- Electricity: Bypasses enemy armor.
- Earth: Causes Knockback.
What a wonderful surprise! The Gorn was just getting better and better! With the electricity element selected, I designated the target spot and ordered it to fire. The Gorn let out a strange, almost animal-like cry, before tilting its long cannon up towards the sky. Boom! Boom! Boom! The cannon fired off three shots in rapid succession, the gunfire as loud as thunder itself. I felt the ground beneath me shake as the barrage struck the enemy Siege Golems.
A storm of yellow electricity engulfed the entire bottom region of the map, flashing so brightly that I had to close the Grid for a moment to regain my sight. Upon reactivating the Grid, I could see that half of the enemy Siege Engines were reduced to a quarter of their health.
“My Stars…” Efera whispered. Three rapid explosions shook the world again as the Gorn fired with ease, annihilating ten Siege Golems within a matter of seconds. “My spies did not tell me about this.”
“It’s a new toy I just acquired,” I said, watching as the Gorn tilted to the left and exploded in a burst of flames. The third shot had apparently backfired, taking a third of its health off. The Wrench Golem was all too happy to rush up and begin repairing the damage sustained.
Though the barrage had been impressive, it was a little too effective. Eradicating the stuck Siege Golems allowed the remaining ten to power forward. They were quick to reach the second Karrack Tower and smash it to bits. The Gorn continued to fire, killing them in batches of one or two. They were beginning to stretch out, making it harder for the barrages to hit as many at once. I lost the rest of my Karrack Towers by the time it was all said and done.
Thankfully, the enemy force continued to dwindle down. Those that made it close to the exit were burned to a crisp by the row of Phlogiston Cannons waiting for them.
“Hrmmmm,” Efera groaned. “Twenty Siege Golems dead. I must say, I’m impressed. How much did you pay for that Treasure Golem?”
I didn’t bother to answer. Instead, I focused on the next five units that would be coming out to greet me. Much to my surprise, they were mere Stone Golems, lumbering out only to be shredded by my much larger golem army. Was…was this attack a feint? I swallowed hard as the round ended.
Next Wave: 50 hovered beside me, taunting me as I surveyed the damage. All the Karrack Towers were dead. The maze was reduced to a fairly easy path, since there were now gaps between whatever barricades had survived. I couldn’t quickly build any Slugtine traps, since they required manual labor. And frankly, I was done spending resources on this fight anyway. If anything, I had significantly damaged her forces. That wave of Siege Engines had been enough to reduce her invasion rating by a lot. Or at least, I hoped.
I frowned as the timer was running out. The cat was out of the bag in regards to the Gorn. The Lady Efera would undoubtedly try to find a way to kill it. I could cut out now and surrender. She wouldn’t gain anything other than access to my Manor. I could remove the Gorn and all my other units, pull back and fight off whatever forces she had left. Or…I could stay and keep fighting. Keep whittling down her forces, but potentially lose the Gorn.
I knew that ultimately, I could use Fire Spice to rebuild the unit, but how much would it cost? We had a decent amount of the stuff, but what if the Gorn was really expensive to repair? Having witnessed firsthand just how powerful the thing was, I realized that there was no way it would cost a handful of the spice. If I lost it now, I might not have time to replace it until after the main fight.
Pull back or keep fighting…the timer continued to drop down. I took a deep breath. Attrition was the name of the game. Even if I lost the Gorn here, the Lady would not have an easy time killing it. She would lose a great deal of units in the process. And that would make the final fight all the easier. Besides, the Manor was a huge maze. The less she had to send at me at once, the easier it would be to kill whatever she had left. Continuing to fight was a big risk, but damn it, this was a risk worth taking. I gritted my teeth and pressed the ready button. Let’s see how many golems I could kill this time.
The fifth wave began, with a horde of fast-moving golems rushing out into the open. These were long, slender golems, with jagged legs that allowed them to spring off the ground, somewhat reminiscent of a pole-vaulter. I was quick to pull up the info box on this new type.
Lance Golems: Fast moving, these golems target specific units on the battlefield and attempt to destroy them.
I hurried to order my Karrack Golems to advance towards the Gorn, in the hopes of being able to block off the Lances, but my units were pitifully slow compared to the enemy. Each Lance Golem bounded in a different direction, leaping and running as quickly as possible, spread out so that they could deftly avoid the barrage of explosions that were rocking the world around them.
These damned golems were fast enough to outpace the Gorn’s attacks and they closed in on my Treasure Golem within twenty seconds of appearing on the field. These were thin units, wiry and fast. There was no way they could absorb a lot of damage, right? I quickly activated my Structure Repair ability to revive the third Karrack Tower.
A flash of red energy washed over the tower, resurrecting the shattered mana crystal. The tower came to life and began firing out twin beams of high-powered energy. Two of the Lance Golems were shattered instantly from the damage output. Two more died within seconds as the tower acquired new targets, popping these Lance Golems as fast as it could. My guess had been right: the Lances were weak as paper!
In spite of my surprise attack, three of the Lances made it to the Gorn. The Treasure Golem began to bleat like a sheep, thrashing left and right as it tried to back away. Each enemy lance speared their long arms into the Gorn, dropping it down to half-health with their combined efforts. The Gorn fired a burst at point blank range, killing the Lances instantly but bringing itself down to nearly 20% HP.
The Wrench Golem had been an unfortunate casualty as well, for it had been idling right next to the Gorn, unable to dodge in time. I grimaced as I surveyed the battlefield. A barely standing Gorn, one Karrack Tower and some Phlogiston Cannons. This next swarm was going to hurt.
Chapter 43
I ordered my Karrack Golems to form a wedge in front of the Gorn. The only way anything could get to my cannon was by killing the Karracks first. They were tightly packed together, blocking off any possible entryway with their bodies. Whatever was coming next would be in for a hell of a fight. I wasn’t about to lose that Gorn without taking at least half of this wave with me.
Six Siege Golems appeared, accompanied by these strange, spherical orbs. They were made of stone, yes, but were perfectly smooth, floating in the air. I counted ten orbs. Each one crackled with a yellow energy. A quick tap on one of the golems revealed their purpose.
Barrier Golems: These small orbs connect to one another, forming elemental barriers of the owner’s choosing. Any attack with the chosen element is neutralized by the barrier.
Damn. This was why Efera hadn’t panicked upon losing all 20 of her Siege Golems. She probably had plenty more in the back. Perhaps even more than 20. Those Barrier Golems would prevent my cannon from ignoring the Siege Golem’s armor. Not just that, but the entire attack would be neutralized, meaning my cannon was rendered more or less useless here.
Still, I couldn’t just give up. Had to keep pressing. I had a slight time advantage here. Two minutes was a long time in a fight. I ordered my Karrack Golems to advance forward, targeting one orb with each golem, prompting them to fire once they were within range. Next, I ordered the Gorn to switch fire modes to th
e Sniper mode. If these Barrier Golems used large shields of mana to block the attacks, it was possible that a well-aimed and precise shot could find a gap in the shield. Besides, I was curious to see how much damage a concentrated shot did to an armored Siege Golem.
“Shooting at them with Karracks? Come now, you can’t be that dense,” Efera taunted as my Karrack Golems began firing their energy beams straight at the little orbs. The words Immune floated above the Barrier Golems. “They are powered by mana currents, so Karracks are useless,” she explained. “Now come, surrender now and save that nice expensive golem of yours. Let’s end this.”
I closed the Grid for a moment and looked right at Efera. “Ma’am, are you this foolish?” I asked. The words caught her by surprise, and she exited the Grid too, looking right at me. I continued to press. “You’re struggling to get past a single stretch of road. A tiny piece of land. Have you any idea what my forces are going to do when you get to the Manor? My maze is easily four times the size of this road. What’s waiting for you on the other side will devastate you.”
A sadness crept over the woman’s face as she looked at me. She sighed and shook her head. “I’m not going down without a fight. At the end of everything I’ve worked for, I’d rather lose every last unit than throw in the towel and…and admit defeat. So if you’re determined to make me bleed every last drop of blood, so be it. You might be surprised at just how much I have left in me.”
My threats would not dissuade her, so I returned to the Grid just in time for the Gorn to have finished its transformation process. I changed the element to earth and then targeted one of the floating Barrier Golems. The Gorn let out a deep grumbling roar and slowly aimed straight at the target, then angled slightly upwards. With a loud pop, the cannon fired out a small shell that smashed the Barrier Golem to bits. It worked and only took one hit too!
“Well…shit,” Lady Efera swore as the Gorn began firing, one at a time, at each Barrier Golem. It took the cannon about six seconds to recharge between shots, giving the Siege Golems enough time to get up on their feet. With the Barrier Golems now dead, the Karracks were free to hit the Siege engines as much as they liked, but their attacks were about as effective as using a flyswatter on a mountain. The armor was just too strong.
Gentleman's Wars: The Rules of Engagement: A Tower Defense LitRPG Series (The Great Game Book 1) Page 24