Bogrith watched with a grin as the golems were bombarded with a rain of steel bolts. Each bolt was 7 meter in length, and with its speed and power, none of the golems could dodge the attack.
Dozens of these golems were blown to smithereens after a single volley, and all the rare materials that made up as the golem's bodies fell to the ground.
Bogrith smiled even wider when he saw that. All of that rare material will be his now.
But then something shocking happened. The materials on the ground moved by itself, along with some dirt, rock, and bricks in the surrounding, and then formed another golem.
This kept on happening until the army of golems restored itself.
"How is this possible!"
There were two possibilities. Either the golem master had a huge amount of mana, or the golem creation spell was very sophisticated.
But the chance of these two possibilities were too small.
"Or maybe he has a huge amount of mana crystals and uses that to replenish his own mana. That must be it."
It was known that fighting against a golem master was a battle of attrition. The golem master would stay in safe distance and let his golem do the fighting for him. But everytime it was destroyed, the golem master had to expend some mana to restore it.
And most of the time, the golem master would run out of mana sooner or later, and so, the solution to tha problem was to bring a lot of mana crystals and use it to replenish the expended mana.
Basically, you have to be rich enough to buy a lot of mana crystals if you want to become a golem master.
Bogrith, as town leader, had met with a few golem masters in the past, and knew that all of them were very rich.
Being a golem master was also very rewarding, but the reason why there were less of them was because the spell was hard to learn, and it needed a major investment at the start.
So most golem masters were already rich to begin with.
"But I am not poor myself. If you want to fight a battle of attrition, then let's get it on! Send more bolts towards them."
The soldiers brought in more and more heavy crossbows atop the wall of the castle, and the rain of bolts thickened.
Aldred could connect to the golem's vision, and he saw the bolts covering the sun before it fell towards them.
Meanwhile, the 200 elite soldiers below grabbed their powerful bows, and started releasing arrows. They were ordered to keep destroying the golems.
"What are they doing?" Aldred asked. "Can't they see that my golems are eternal?"
Stella smiled. "They must have thought that you would run out of mana soon."
"Ahh, I see." Aldred smiled. "Well, let them have their fun. We're just going to watch until they get exhausted."
The golems kept on being destroyed for hours and hours, until the archers were exhausted and the supplies of bolts were depleted.
That was when the golem army marched forward.
"Impossible! Impossible!" Bogrith shouted. "How many mana crystals did you have! Bastard! Those winged-men must have supplied him with mana crystals as well. Men, we're retreating!"
Since he was at a disadvantage, there was no use to keep fighting. Though it was a pity to lose this city, but he can take it back as long as he still live.
But Aldred wouldn't let any dangerous enemies run away like that.
Dozens of golem shells flew to the sky with jet flame coming out from behind. They looked exactly like a modern artillery shell except they were made out of dirt and rocks.
Even so, they were still effective.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The 200 elite soldiers were bombarded, and so did the bugbear above the wall. The gunners came in guns blazing, while the fighter golems rushed forward and brandished their rare-grade weapons.
Aldred used less than 200 golems in this attack, but he successfully besieged a fortified city in less than a day.
That was something unprecedented in the history of warfare.
Siege was always a battle of attrition and the battle could last for weeks if not months.
To conquer a city in one day was nothing short of amazing in any stretch of the imagination.
Aldred smiled and he told the golems to enforce order. They wouldn't hurt any innocent civilians, but if they tried to create chaos by robbing or destroying homes, the golems would end their life immediately.
"Alright," Aldred said. "Time to mine the resources in the city. Also, Bart. Can you tell someone to import food to the city?"
"Why? Your golems don't need to eat."
"My golems don't need to eat, but the civilians do. With their city in my hands, the bugbear won't import food into the city, so we have to do it."
"But we're at war."
"We're at war with their army, not their entire race. We will take their resources, but not their lives."
Mira smiled proudly when she heard that.
But Aldred had other reasons to do this as well. To reduce the hatred he received from the general public.
Hate is a powerful emotion. Stronger than gratitude.
Give a man milk, and he might give water back. Punch a man in the face, and he will return with a sword.
Gratitude is a burden. Revenge, on the other hand, is pleasure.
Next, the worker golems entered the city in masses. These golems were created purely of dirt and any nearby materials.
And these golems weren't created by Aldred. Instead, they were created by another golem.
Aldred called this golem Foremen Golem
Now, instead of supervising golems, Foremen Golem created numerous worker golems to do odd jobs such as mining resources.
Foremen Golems used two spells. First was the earth spell, and second was the golemification spell.
They were difficult to create at first, but Aldred succeeded in constructing his spells within the mana crystals in their bodies.
And with that, he could create dozens of worker golems en masse.
