Creating the Golems had taken Li Xiuman quite some time.
After all, to ensure they could withstand fighting him, these Golems were high-quality specimens, not hastily made throwaways.
Waiting for his mostly depleted mana to recover, Li Xiuman drew his skeleton sword and wand.
“Attack me!”
The eyes of all the Golems lit up with a faint blue glow, as if they had all been booted up at the exact same instant.
Then, without hesitation, they charged at Li Xiuman in unison.
After all, they only possessed combat instincts and lacked intelligence, meaning they could only follow orders.
To say nothing of a concept like “attacking the master is bad,” they could not even comprehend what a “master” even was.
Watching the Golems rush him in a disorganized swarm, Li Xiuman was somewhat disappointed.
The intelligence of these Golems was too low to grasp concepts like teamwork and coordination.
They simply swarmed him all at once.
A squad like this posed absolutely no threat to him and failed completely to serve as effective sparring partners.
“Stop.”
Li Xiuman stopped the charging Golems.
They needed a commander.
“...Number Zero, come here.”
After a moment of thought, Li Xiuman set his sights on Number Zero.
“Number Zero, lead these Golems and attack me.”
Li Xiuman looked at Number Zero, who had just emerged from the basement, and gave the command.
There was a two-second delay as Number Zero processed and understood Li Xiuman's command.
Then, it stepped into the midst of the Golem squad.
Number Zero was a Golem into which Li Xiuman had poured a massive amount of mana and even 500 EXP.
Among Golems of the same creator, hierarchy was easily established.
Namely, Golems imbued with more of the creator's mana and power possessed higher authority than those with less.
Consequently, the moment Number Zero walked into the Golem squad, the other Golems bowed their heads one by one in submission.
Seeing Number Zero unite the entire squad in just a short moment, Li Xiuman nodded in satisfaction.
He looked exactly like a proud father once again.
As expected of the Number Zero meticulously crafted by a genius like himself.
“Number Zero, attack.”
Li Xiuman commanded.
Number Zero's eyes flared with a brilliant faint blue light as it led the host of Golems in a charge.
Number Zero had been designed by Li Xiuman as a Heavy Warrior.
Thus, its position charging at the very front of the formation was perfectly fine.
But this was not enough.
Gripping his wand, Li Xiuman easily parried the greatsword swung down by Number Zero, then kicked away the Swordsman Golem that attempted a sneak attack from the side.
The Spiral Spike charged up by the Elementalist Golem was also shattered by a single slash of his skeleton sword.
Number Zero quickly closed the distance, intending to break the deadlock with its massive frame.
But Li Xiuman merely took a step back, and a Quagmire expanded right where he had just been standing.
Forced to avoid the bounds of the Quagmire, Number Zero raised its hand toward Li Xiuman.
A yellow magic circle expanded, and Earth Bullets shot toward Li Xiuman one after another.
The Swordsman Golems rushed in from both flanks, their stone swords thrusting toward Li Xiuman's ribs.
Behind him, another Heavy Armor Golem cut off his retreat.
“Not bad, not bad.”
Li Xiuman praised Number Zero.
Though he didn't know if Number Zero could even comprehend the meaning of praise.
“Dragonification!”
Li Xiuman activated his newly acquired skill.
A pair of bone horns pierced out from his forehead beneath his hood, and scale-like patterns emerged across his entire skeleton. A whip-like bone tail extended from behind him, wrapping around one of the Heavy Armor Golem's feet.
With a sharp tug of his tail, the Heavy Armor Golem lost its balance and fell backward.
A Stone Shield instantly expanded over his left arm, blocking the stone sword thrusting in from the left flank.
Activating Great Strength with his other hand, he swung his wand, heavily parrying the stone sword coming from the right flank.
Right in front of him, Number Zero leaped into the air, its greatsword coming down toward his head.
Li Xiuman stomped the ground, and a Quagmire expanded outward with him at the center.
The three Golems surrounding him were instantly mired in the Quagmire, their offensives disrupted by him.
Stepping forward, he crossed his skeleton sword and wand. Lowering his stance slightly, he withstood Number Zero's heavy strike.
However, Number Zero's strength was somewhat beyond his expectations.
Is this the Golem's Strength Modifier?
[Great Strength Lv 2] yielded completely different results when active on a Golem compared to a skeleton like him, a race naturally weak in physical strength.
If it weren't for his own Strength stat modifiers, he would absolutely have no way to compete in raw power with a Golem.
Still, he had only wanted to test Number Zero's strength; otherwise, Number Zero's sword would never have even touched him in the first place.
Raising his leg, he kicked Number Zero squarely in the chest.
Number Zero quickly pulled its arms in to defend. With a swift shift of his hands, Li Xiuman slid his skeleton sword and wand inside its guard, crossing them to lock its greatsword and arms in place.
Bang!
Number Zero's body was sent flying backward, but its stone greatsword had already been snatched away by Li Xiuman.
“Again.”
He hefted the greatsword a couple of times before tossing it back. The sword spun through the air and stabbed into the ground right beside Number Zero.
Number Zero pulled the greatsword free and once again led the Golem squad in a charge.
Li Xiuman backed away, widening the distance.
He was using these Golems to hone his new skills, not to enjoy the thrill of bullying weaklings.
“Awake, Heavy Armor Golem!”
Li Xiuman waved his wand, and earthy yellow magic circles expanded on the ground on both sides of him.
Dirt squirmed within the magic circles, rapidly constructing bodies.
It took about two seconds.
Two Golems emerged from the magic circles.
With their robust bodies, wielding a shield in one hand and a sword in the other, they were indeed Heavy Armor Golems.
[Name] Heavy Armor Golem
[Level] Lv 13
[Skills] Great Strength Lv 2, Hard Bone Lv 2, Resilience Lv 2
This was the practical technique for rapid Golem crafting.
The two Golems blocked the way in front of Li Xiuman, fearlessly raising their shields and brandishing their greatswords.
“Two seconds? Still a bit too slow.”
Li Xiuman was not satisfied.
The Golems bypassed Number Zero and intercepted the Heavy Armor Golems behind him.
Meanwhile, Li Xiuman began to retreat further, widening the gap.
Number Zero processed at high speed and made a decision.
The two Heavy Armor Golems continued to deal with Li Xiuman's two Golems.
The Swordsman Golems broke away from the skirmish and rushed toward Number Zero's side, shielding its flanks.
The Elementalist Golem cast Fireballs from afar to provide fire support.
Then, Number Zero and the Swordsman Golems rushed toward the rapidly retreating Li Xiuman.
“It seems Number Zero understands that keeping me at a distance makes me harder to deal with.”
Li Xiuman raised his hand. Accompanied by the rapid whoosh-whoosh-whoosh of expanding magic circles, a massive red magic circle unfurled in midair.
“Fireball!”
A deluge of Fireballs rained down one after another.
Number Zero quickly raised its heavy shield before its chest, and the Swordsman Golem hastily ducked behind it.
A textbook response.
Having crafted Number Zero with his own hands, Li Xiuman knew these Fireballs would not do much to it.
That is, unless he wanted to play dirty and continuously suppress them with sheer firepower.
But Li Xiuman's goal wasn't just to win; he was here to hone his new skills.
He abandoned this cheap method of firepower suppression.
Capitalizing on the delay caused by the Fireballs, he raised his wand.
“Awake, Swordsman Golem!”
This time, three yellow magic circles expanded. The earth squirmed and grew, taking just over two seconds to form three Swordsman Golems, which then charged toward Number Zero and its companions.
At that moment, the rain of Fireballs ceased.
The rapid-crafted Swordsman Golems were Lv 13, possessing [Swordsmanship Lv 2], [Swiftness Lv 2], and [Close Combat Lv 1].
They were squishy, glass-cannon warriors with all their stats poured into offense.
Their builds were not robust, instead resembling slender puppets.
“Harass and wear them down.”
Li Xiuman gave the command to the rushing Swordsman Golems.
Rate on N.U.
