City of Desire

I watched Colonel Uram leading one hundred and nineteen men through the screen.

"Let's hope he will do it," said Irab. "If he and his company can't, then I don't believe anyone in the Dominion would," replied the General, and I totally agreed.

He is the most talented fighter and officer we have. Most importantly, he is ingenious in combat.

Fluid in strategy and quick to deal with unexpected changes that appear in battle. There are also his envious inheritance skills. He is the best person we could have chosen.

I mean, I could have gone there, or General Azalia, or Jon. All of us are Lv. 40, but that wouldn't have been helpful.

It is not the battle of one or two; it is that of the unit. Here, one person's strength is not enough to win, but the units working together are.

His unit is the most cohesive one out there; the best trained. So, there wasn't really a choice but to choose him and his people.

"We should have put a General in charge of it," said Irab. He was one of the voices against it. "As I told you, General, Colonel Uram is the most capable man we have for this," replied Azalia with a sigh.

He opened his mouth, but closed it upon seeing her expression.

There are three chances, and we will use the first to gather information, but the Colonel should push for victory only if he feels there is a good chance of it.

We don't want them to get injured since we can't change people, not even a single one.

'Best of luck, Colonel. I wished as the last soldier walked through the screen.

…

Orok Uram

Suddenly, my vision became clear as the last person stepped inside through the screen.

Predator's Gaze, which had been barely working until now, had come back in full power.

'The skills came back!' said Lt. Colonel Bandstone from the front. Her shield warriors are in front, while behind them are two wings of my platoon, each containing forty-five soldiers.

'Affirmative,' I replied after looking around.

Knowing that my skills have returned has filled me with relief, because I was prepared to fight without them. However, that wouldn't have been ideal.

I focused on Rhythm of Wild, my greatest skill, but it is silent. Just like the Golems, there has been no change in them since we entered the screen.

If not for the skills coming back, I would have doubted anything had changed.

'Forward, slow feet,' I ordered, and immediately, the company began to move forward slowly, with my eyes never leaving the golems.

There are seven types of them.

The biggest one is humanoid; the general called it a command golem, saying it is likely the leader.

Then there are slightly smaller humanoids, holding shields as big as themselves. General has stated that these are likely defensive golems.

The third type of golem is birdlike; they are big enough that the biggest orc could sit on them comfortably.

They should be an aerial attack unit, with their sharp wings and extended, enormous claws, that look sharp enough to tear through anything.

The fourth are golems with a large, colourless, round crystal encaged in metal with a ring around it.

The general does not know what it does.

The fifth one, too, has a large crystal. It is red, surrounded by multiple rotating runic pylons and levitating shards made of the same material as the crystal.

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The sixth are raptor-like beasts, standing on two legs, with large claws, a long mouth, and a bladed tail.

They are, without doubt, offensive golems.

The last are rhinos with sharp horns; they are likely offensive, but could also be defensive. It may be the same with others; we do not know.

There is a one-commander golem, eight shield humanoids, ten birds, eleven rhinos, eighteen raptors, four crystals with a ring around them, and eight crystals with pylons and shards.

The first attempt is about uncovering information.

We continued moving slowly and cautiously, expecting the golems to attack at any second, but they did not. They continued to remain inactive.

'Have they malfunctioned? I heard it happens with golems,' asked Dina. 'I don't know, but expect anything,' I replied.

There is a good chance that this might be the case.

My people do not know it, but this place is over eight thousand years old. So, the possibility couldn't be discarded. Though the General had expected them to work, as if they were new.

She suspects that a powerful temporal enchantment covered this place before we came inside.

We got closer and closer, but the golems remained unresponsive.

I could see the doubt appearing in the eyes of my people. Some do not expect the golems to come alive, and a small part of me wishes they wouldn't.

The general had explained all the rules to me, but still, seeing such powerful things, I couldn't help but feel scared.

Though she is right, we need these things; they would be tremendously useful. Increasing our chances against the enemies massively.

We took another step when suddenly, a powerful humming sound rang across the golems. Like some ancient power waking up as it happened, it raised all the hair on my body.

'Stop!'

"Shield wall!' I ordered.

Immediately, everyone stopped, and Lt. Colonel Bandstone and her men brought their shields forward, while golems lit up, with blazing glow coming out of their mouths.

A moment passed, and golems opened their mouths and roared, and cries rang out from their mouths.

'Remember the safe word,' I reminded them. It is what will protect them.

I turned and saw some golems taking off into the air. The ten birds were no surprise, but four metal-encased crystal ones with a ring around them also flew up.

The biggest surprise was the metal pylon golem; all eight of them flew up.

At the same time, the golems on the ground moved.

I thought the eight golems with massive shields would be at the front, but no.

In the front were the eleven rhino golems; behind them were shield golems, and then a raptor golem with a command golem in the middle of them.

'Everybody, ready to fight,' I ordered, but didn't move forward. They are just arranging themselves; they have not moved toward us.

A few seconds later, they stopped, and a thin energy screen appeared over them.

"Saltar!"

A loud voice rang out from the command golem, and it moved toward us. At that same moment, Wild Rhythm, which had been silent until now, sang, and it sang high.

A moment later, the attacks came, and they came from unexpected places.

The birds cried loudly and came at us, as expected, but what was unexpected was that the red crystal inside the pylon was lighting up and sending a dense, thick beam of energy.

The pylon golems aren't the only ones who have launched the beams. No, the horns of the rhino also did as they charged toward us.

"Shields, defend against. Mages, defensive spells," I ordered.

I didn't ask my men to charge forward, which is usually our way, but this time, we are not moving.

The energy attacks struck against the magic shields, breaking many of them, but my mages are well-trained, and they had a spell ready, and they appeared, stopping the attack.

"Be ready, they are coming!" I said, looking at rhinos and birds.

Seven seconds later, they struck us; the rhinos crashed against the shield wall, and the birds came at us.

'They are Damn, bloody powerful!' Lt. Colonel Bandstone cursed as her whole shield wall pushed back.

'Colonel, spells are barely affecting them!' informed Hasid and my other mages. The birds are nearly on us, as the spells were unable to stop them.

These birds avoided them, but even those that struck them barely left a scratch on the energy screen that is covering them.

Their beams would tear on shields apart. That we needed multiple spells to stop a single attack.

'Yregh!,' I said. 'Ready, Colonel!' came the reply, and a moment later, a large axe of his men struck against the bird's claws.

He and his group are highly skilled in dealing with aerial monsters. His tribe used to live on hills, which were the target of balsik stonebirds.

They have the skills and experience to deal with such attacks.

'They are powerful!' he stated. I said nothing, but saw the bloody gashes appearing on the bodies of a few of his men. I said nothing and looked ahead.

'Azika, forward.' I ordered, and a moment later, a woman wearing heavier-than-usual armor for my unit moved forward with her men to aid Lt. Colonel Bandstone.

They are being pushed back.

A few seconds later, the gap opened for Azika and her men between the shield wall, and they struck against the Rhinos, who, despite their size, are pretty fast.

My men fought around me, but I did not move from my spot. My eyes scanned the battlefield.

Usually, I lead from the front, but not every battle needs to be a fight like that, not to mention fighting isn't the purpose. It's understanding the opponent's abilities.

Three golems are fighting, and I could guess the abilities of the fourth one, which is floating above the battlefield.

That left the command golem, raptors, and shield golems.

A minute passed, and three didn't move, while my men were fighting against three threats that were coming at us relentlessly.

Once more, the bird tried to attack me, but one of Yregh's men dealt with it as my mages dealt with energy attacks.

I looked at them, noting every little detail. The General is looking through the screen, but she has asked me to observe and note everything, and I am doing it.

Another minute passed, and then another, but those three types of golems didn't move.

It seemed like I would have to force them to move!