Chapter 290
We set the army in motion and leave the city. While we're at it, let's take stock of our total forces.
Setting our clan members aside, let's first look at our ground forces. We have two hundred Scars, primarily light infantry; fifty Dark Elves, all handpicked archers; four Metallica armored vehicles whose construction and piloting training were completed in time; and one hundred Centaurs divided into heavy and light cavalry according to their stats.
In addition, I created five hundred Undead Puppets, while Shiitake created a two-hundred-strong Golem unit. We had somehow managed to assemble more than a thousand troops on the ground alone.
Next, our air forces consist of fifty Metallica piloting long-range-attack Tactical Shells aboard the famed floating battleship Shiratsuki, along with one hundred of Shiitake's flying Golems. It would be fair to say these forces are quite impressive as well.
"Mufufufu! I say, these Golems turned out wonderfully!"
While fiddling with the equipment on Shiratsuki's bridge as the ship flew at low altitude, Shiitake let out her strange laugh. While interacting with the Metallica, she had also used the 'Golem Cores' she had collected in large numbers during the event to produce Golems herself.
She had decided that producing them in quantity would be useful both for leveling up her Skills and for securing disposable forces. Thus, she used the low-quality 'Golem Cores' to mass-produce Golems. The result was an army of three hundred in total, between the air and the ground.
Although they were disposable forces, she had used materials that gave them at least a minimum level of combat ability. The ground Golems that even now marched along with heavy, earth-shaking footsteps were made from Miasma Black Rock, a mass of Miasma Blackstone that we had picked up when we first arrived on this continent.
This was a construction material used in the city's walls and buildings, and she was repurposing debris from buildings that had collapsed because of the holes Shiitake had dug. She had inadvertently supplied the materials herself.
Just as the description of Miasma Blackstone had stated, Miasma Black Rock was heavy and hard. The Miasma Black Rock Golems were slow, but they could fight with unparalleled durability and powerful blows that took advantage of the material's weight.
The Golems were humanoid in form, but looked nothing like humans. They stood about three meters tall, with their torsos and heads made from rock left as-is, all rough and uneven. Their legs were short, while their arms were long; their round fists, made by barely polishing the rock, scraped along the ground. Overall, they were squat and pudgy.
Once the Golems were complete, the Scars carved multiple patterns into them. These boosted stats such as strength and defense, and even granted them the ability to slowly regenerate, albeit only by an extremely small amount. Thanks to the Scars, their performance was overpowered for disposable units.
Compared to the roughly made ground Golems, the flying Golems were a creation born from Shiitake's ideas combined with Iris's technology and Towa's knowledge. After acquiring Golem-construction techniques through the Miasma Black Rock Golems, Shiitake moved on to creating flying models.
However, even flying Golems could not be completed as easily as merely attaching something to them. So she borrowed Iris's technology and relied on Towa's ancient knowledge at the same time. In fact, flying Golems had attacked us as intruders in the ruins where we met Towa. Relying on her had been the right choice.
The result was a flying Golem resembling a real-world drone: a rectangular box with rotating blades extending from all four corners. Getting them to fly at all had been difficult, and since the flying models were small, their only armament was six tennis-ball-sized bombs.
However, a bombing run by one hundred drones was sure to inflict devastating damage on the enemy. What was more, the bombs had been made by Shiitake. Some were ordinary bombs, but most had been made with mysterious chemicals and suspicious materials.
She had proudly claimed that the bombs made from poisonous plants and dangerous fruits gathered by the Dark Elves in the 'Dark Forest of Temptation' were masterpieces. She did make sure they wouldn't hurt our allies, right...?
The ground Golem unit marched slowly because it plodded along. However, ordinary monsters wouldn't attack a group this large. The only ones that might attack us would be Hell Beasts. For now, all we could do was wait for the report from the lightly armored Centaurs out on patrol.
"Izam, it looks like the Centaurs who went on patrol have fired signal flares!"
"What color, and how many?"
"Three red ones!"
While we were waiting, it seemed that the Centaurs had spotted the enemy. Elder Zelmus of the Scars had shown me an item resembling fireworks that could be used to call one's companions. We had it modified by removing its location-reporting function and turning it into a signal flare that emitted light in three different colors.
Of the three colors—red, blue, and yellow—red indicated an 'encounter with numerous enemies.' Three shots meant 'being pursued.' In other words, they would be coming back with many enemies in tow.
"We'll intercept them. Send the ground Golem unit forward."
"Aye-aye~! All right, little Golems—it's your first battle~!"
We halted our advance and massed the ground Golems at the front. Behind them, we positioned the Undead Puppet unit, and I descended from Shiratsuki to take command. After that, we waited in silence for the enemy to arrive.
About a minute later, four shadows came running toward us from beyond the horizon. They were the Centaurs who had gone on patrol, and behind them we could make out a horde of monsters approaching through a cloud of dust.
"Gorlorororo!"
"Gyah gyah gyah!"
"So those are Hell Beasts. Come to think of it, this is actually my first time seeing one."
The shrill cries of the Hell Beasts chasing the Centaurs could be heard all the way over here. Though I had summoned Hell Beasts before, I had never fought one. That was because, for the past week or so, I had either been working in the city or leveling up while gathering materials in a cave in the 'Spear Rock Fortune Mine,' which was connected to the city by a direct underground passage.
I had heard from my other companions what sort of opponents Hell Beasts were, and I even knew what results an 【Appraisal】 would produce. However, since seeing something once is worth hearing about it a hundred times, I decided to appraise them myself.
――――――――――
Race: Hell Beast Lv33
Job: Hound Lv3
Skill: 【Health Enhancement】
Skill: 【Agility Enhancement】
Skill: 【Poison Fangs】
Skill: 【Shield Scales】
Skill: 【Tracking】
Skill: 【Coordination】
Skill: 【Fire-Element Resistance】
Skill: 【Poison Resistance】
Race: Hell Beast Lv38
Job: Fire Mage Lv8
Skill: 【Health Enhancement】
Skill: 【Intelligence Enhancement】
Skill: 【Spirit Enhancement】
Skill: 【Paralyzing Fangs】
Skill: 【Paralyzing Claws】
Skill: 【Tail Strike】
Skill: 【Fire Magic】
Skill: 【Fire-Element Resistance】
Skill: 【Paralysis Resistance】
――――――――――
Those were the results of appraising the Hell Beasts pursuing the Centaurs. The former looked like a one-eyed wolf covered in purple scales, while the latter looked like a monkey with ocher fur and an arm with six fingers growing from its back.
Although they were in the same level range and had the same Race, their appearances were completely different. Surprisingly, it seemed that Hell Beasts remained Hell Beasts until they surpassed level 50. There had also been reports of individuals with completely different traits despite looking similar, making them so diverse that it was difficult to formulate any definite countermeasures.
They resembled humans in that their Race name did not change until level 50 even as they leveled up, but they were apparently not quite the same. According to a Dark Elf who had encountered and defeated a Hell Beast above level 50, the result of 【Appraisal】 had apparently been not a High-Ranking Hell Beast or anything similar, but a Sword Forest Hell Beast.
That Sword Forest Hell Beast had apparently looked like a hedgehog with a wide variety of blades growing from its back. It had heated those blades until they glowed red, then launched them from its back to fight. What kind of ecology does it have...?
Setting that aside, all the Hell Beasts pursuing the Centaurs were apparently weaklings below level 40. There were about thirty of them, so we could safely leave them to the Golems and Undead Puppets.
"Centaurs, get past the Golems and move to the rear. Golem unit, prepare for battle."
"Understood!"
"Gogogogo..."
When the Golems followed the order and entered their battle formation, the patterns carved by the Scars began to glow yellow. The patterns floating across their pitch-black stone bodies were beautiful, making them look somewhat like avant-garde stone statues created by a sculptor.
However, these were practical tools—and weapons at that. After the Centaurs raced past them, the Golems demonstrated their true worth against the attacking Hell Beasts.
"Gyahiiin!?"
"Bugeh!?"
The Golems' massive fists came crashing down on the Hell Beasts. Specialized in attack power and defense, the Golems' fists were so powerful that the Hell Beasts struck directly were sent flying while screaming their death throes.
A few barely survived, but I quickly finished them off with some spell or other. Hmm. It looked like the Golems' attack power was sufficient against weaklings.
"Gyagyaaa!"
"Hmph, they've latched on."
However, the Golems' attacks were crude, and it seemed that nimble enemies could evade them. About ten monkeylike Hell Beasts dodged the fists, climbed up the Golems' bodies, and began punching them with all their might.
"They don't seem to be doing any damage... but this is a good opportunity to try this, too. Undead unit, advance. Pierce the enemies clinging to the Golems."
"Clatter, clatter, clatter."
"Gyaaaaaaaaa!?"
When I gave the order to the Undead Puppets waiting behind the Golem unit, the ones in the front row thrust out their spears. With spears closing in from multiple directions in perfectly synchronized movements, the Hell Beasts had no time to evade and were skewered.
Thus, the horde of Hell Beasts was defeated without any trouble. That was only natural—struggling against opponents this weak would be unacceptable. Still, a small victory was a victory, and the morale of the entire army had risen. Let's resume our advance without letting our guard down!