Chapter Seven: Killing Command
As Soren delved deeper, the underground passage became increasingly spacious.
Some relatively intact buildings began to appear around him, along with some tunnels excavated by the d*ath Bell Beetles on either side. These tunnels reached widths of over five meters, turning this place into a vast underground network. At an intersection within the passage, dense battle remnants appeared on the ground, along with the corpses of seven or eight d*ath Bell Beetles. A strange vibrating sound came from afar, and Soren’s divine perception net detected at least a hundred traces of insects in activity.
In front of him appeared a large door; this should be the entrance to the underground ruins.
“Fairly well preserved!”
Soren entered the interior of the underground ruins. He reached out to touch the runes left on the wall and murmured, “It seems this place has been imbued with spells as a whole, which explains why it has survived for thousands of years without damage. Even during the Arcane Empire period, not all buildings were spell-infused; this should be a relatively important place, right?”
Rumbling!
A sound of collapse came from somewhere, prompting Soren to quicken his pace.
Passing through a narrow passageway carved out by the populace, he suddenly found himself in a very large hall, where numerous inactive golem puppets were piled up.
At the forefront were a large number of clay golems, significantly damaged, with many having been gnawed by insects; probably less than one-tenth of those intact remained. However, the stone golems and iron golems in the back were relatively complete, with an estimated more than fifty percent being relatively intact, although it was uncertain whether the internal components were damaged or if they could be activated upon energy injection.
“What is this?!”
In a corner, Soren discovered the faint glow of spell light. Upon activating the spell, a passage from a magical journal dating back to the Arcane Empire appeared before his eyes.
“Insects!…”
“The insects are getting more numerous… We must k*ll the Mother Bug to get rid of all this!…”
“The City Hall has approved our plan! … Funds… We are preparing to build a large golem factory… But this requires huge amounts of energy! … We submitted a request to the Grand Archmage Council… asking them to construct a large energy supply unit for the city! … But they refused…”
“There’s no way! … Those Grand Archmages don’t care about our lives! …”
“Now we can only take risks! …”
…
A portion of the magical journal was damaged, but relying on his divine ability ‘Understanding Text’, Soren successfully deciphered its meaning. He also pieced together a bit of the circumstances surrounding the events.
Despite being immensely powerful during the Arcane Empire, there were still quite a few enemies.
Deities were just one of them!
The magical energy during the Arcane Empire was excessively rampant, attracting many creatures with a strong craving for magical power. Not only did the devastating magical sunflowers of the Silver Era appear during the Arcane Empire, but even some mutated insectoid beings from other planes were lured by this immense energy. Large-scale exploitation of the astral realm also attracted many dangerous gazes from the depths of the multiverse. Thus, during the Arcane Empire, there was a massive development of battle alchemy technology; the magical power devices were researched because of this necessity for war; without the need for war, such large-scale research would not have occurred.
“The energy radiation here is quite high.”
Soren closed his eyes to sense the energy radiation that had lingered for thousands of years. This radiation was significantly harmful to ordinary beings, akin to being exposed to intense nuclear radiation. The radiation here had not dissipated, indicating that a significant energy radiation source still lingered, which was why the d*ath Bell Beetles thrived here. It was also the reason this place became a nest for the insects.
Crack!
A sound echoed from ahead.
“Is someone there?!”
Soren suddenly lifted his head and rushed towards the sound. Behind a small room at the end of the hall, he spotted a familiar figure.
This caused Soren to freeze for a moment, murmuring, “Is it her?!”
d*e!
The Eastern Dance Maiden he had previously encountered.
At this moment, the Eastern Dance Maiden, who appeared quite disheveled and injured, was fiddling with a complex but relatively intact mechanical device. When she triggered a certain button, the entire underground ruins suddenly trembled, and he saw those dormant magical energy transmission devices ignite with light, with energy nodes being activated one after another. Deep within the underground ruins came a massive burst of radiation, instantly connecting through the energy transmission devices to the golem puppets ahead.
“Energy nodes activated!”
“Transmitting energy! … Golem Legion activated! … Insect nest detected! … Purge plan initiated! …”
“Hostiles detected! …”
“Zizz! … Cleansing hostiles! …”
“Annihilate intruders! …”
“Zizz! …”
“Radiation source detected! …”
“Initiate final defense plan! … Activate killing command! …”
A series of electric sparks ignited.
Soren didn’t even have time to stop her before witnessing the mechanical devices around her erupt into sparks, followed by a chorus of red alarm lights. The energy transmission devices around them, due to their age, began to explode, and from one of the devices, the mechanical voice turned into a series of piercing alarm sounds.
“d*mn it!”
“The war of the golems has already been initiated?!”
Soren realized he seemed to be a step late. Although these golem puppets had yet to leave the underground ruins, as lights illuminated, all the relatively intact golem puppets in the hall began to activate.
“Annihilate intruders! …”
“Remove hostiles! …”
“Eliminate mutated insects! …”
“Annihilate all enemies! …”
Rumbling.
The stone wall at the back of the hall suddenly began to sink, and in the ensuing deep darkness, countless lights began to appear. Soren’s position was merely one of many areas storing golem puppets; within this underground ruin, there were many golem halls. The reliance on golem puppets was incredibly high during the Arcane Empire; even the guards within Floating Cities were Arcane Golems. Golem puppets replaced much of the labor force, and during the peak of the Arcane Empire, most households even had affordable clay golems.
“Annihilate intruders!”
A severely damaged stone golem suddenly charged forward; its arms were entirely ruined, yet its internal energy core continued to operate. In its eyes glimmered a dangerous red light as it swung a fist towards Soren. The operational procedures here were malfunctioning, and Soren wasn’t certain if there was a Tower Spirit responsible for operations in this massive golem factory; if no Tower Spirit maintained order, then the commands initiated afterward could not be altered.
“What! …”
“How could this happen! …”
The Eastern Dance Maiden looked equally horrified, completely unprepared for the events that unfolded after activating the golem puppets.
As a special profession from the Eastern Kingdom, the Eastern Dance Maiden possessed characteristics similar to a Bard, being a versatile advanced profession capable of both melee combat and spellcasting. Most of them had a hint of sorcerer bl**d and were proficient in a certain degree of alchemy. Many Eastern Dance Maidens mastered a unique puppet technique, which was a different method of creating golem puppets. With her somewhat half-baked abilities, she managed to activate the golem puppets, but it seemed she hadn’t issued the correct commands during the activation. Even if she had input the correct commands, it would probably be futile; this ruin had been buried for too long.
Crack!
Soren furrowed his brows, dodging the stone golem’s attack and delivering a powerful punch to its chest, shattering the energy core within; in an instant, the stone golem collapsed completely.
A line of data appeared before him:
“k*ll Stone Golem.”
“Extract Soul Energy! … You have gained 2100 points of Killing Experience! …”
In just a short time, chaos erupted throughout the hall as passages opened all around, and various golem puppets emerged from different storerooms.
Clay golems, stone golems, iron golems, flesh golems, diamond golems…
In the depths of the hall, Soren even sensed a hint of dragon pressure; it was an ancient golem device, crafted in a manner similar to the flesh golem, named the Dragon Skeletal Golem, made from the bones of adult dragons. Additionally, figures of Arcane Guards also appeared around; they were higher challenge difficulty magical puppets.
“Run!”
Soren’s figure suddenly appeared beside the Eastern Dance Maiden, grabbing her and rushing towards a side passage.
She froze momentarily upon his appearance, but relaxed somewhat upon hearing a slightly familiar voice. At that moment, hundreds of golem puppets had been activated behind them, and according to the directives set during their creation, most of the golems began to enter the tunnels excavated by the d*ath Bell Beetles.
“Annihilate insects!”
“Insect nest detected! … Attack! … Clear! …”
“Radiation source detected!”
“Mother Bug nest detected! … Annihilate Mother Bug! …”
Zizz.
The vibrating sound of the d*ath Bell Beetles echoed, severe collapses occurred in some areas of the underground ruins, and in the insect tunnels, the golem puppets engaged in fierce combat. These dangerous insects were still robust against the waves of golems, but when the diamond golems joined the fray from behind, the situation gradually changed.
Soren also had no idea how many golem puppets had been activated.
Based on the size of such a golem factory, coupled with the configurations of the golem legions during the Arcane Empire and the widespread usage of golem puppets in that era, it was estimated that at least two to three thousand golems were currently active.
…(To be continued ~^~)
