Dozens of CS-Armageddon-57 fired powerful light beams towards the flying warships. On impact, the warships exploded with a blinding bright light. It was like a show of fireworks in the sky with broken parts flying all over, and then smashing to the ground.
Looking at this scene, Nirder was of course impressed. "How can this thing produce the power of a high Diamond Rank at such rapid rate?"
Warships were generally manned by at least one high Diamond Rank magician to maximize its capability. Unlike technologies and sea warships, flying warships still very much rely on its users. Its main effect is to amplify the magician's power more than tenfolds.
That was why the flying warships were mostly manned by magicians with a bunch of high Diamond Rank warriors as guards just in case someone manage to break in.
Aldred told him that these 'aircrafts' moved by themselves and there were nobody in it. That meant that these aircrafts were able to produce high damage without relying on high level magicians.
That was simply incredible! If Aldred could create a golem like this, what else could he create? His potential seemed to be boundless
The flying warships retaliated, firing frost beams towards the aircraft.
Nirder saw something on one of the screen. It was the approaching frost beams, and then some words he didn't understood appeared all over the screen.
"Threat detected… sending rockets to neutralize."
Dozens of missiles flew out of the aircraft and made their way towards the frost beam before exploding right on impact, preventing the frost beam from reaching the aircrafts.
"Wow, how many weapons does this thing have?" Nirder wondered.
"The aircraft doesn't have a lot of weapons, but each of them is very effective at their task," Aldred replied.
"I can see that," Nirder said as he looked at the flying warships exploding one after the other.
The CS-Armageddon-57 could freely destroy the flying warships with comforts most of the time because the thousands of LWAF Pulsar distracting the flying warships.
The Pulsars were like annoying flies. The flying warships could destroy them in one hit, but hitting them was terribly hard. They also could not ignore these small critters either, because it would crash into them and then self-exploded, causing massive damage.
After a few hours of fighting, the flying warships began to retreat.
"They're retreating!" Nirder shouted. "Are you going to chase them?"
"Nope, I am going to take their city."
The city of Normingham was only around twenty kilometers away.
All the aircrafts rushed towards the north, and in less than a minute, they arrived in front of an huge city.
The soldiers in the city rushed outside, pushing magical ballistas and aiming towards the aircrafts. They fired. 20 meter long steel bolts, spinning at rapid speed while being covered by violent wind elemental energy.
It struck through three LWAF Pulsar and then lodged itself 4mm deep into the CS-Armageddon-57.
"Hmmm. That thing is weaker than I thought. Okay, destroy them to pieces."
A chamber opened below the CS-Armaggedon-57's hulls, and then they all rapidly sending volleys after volleys of rockets towards the city, creating waves after waves of explosion.
Nirder was speechless. "I cannot sense any mana from this thing, so how is this possible? Aldred, would you mind telling me?"
"It's very complicated, and you can truly comprehend it if you spend decades of your lifetime to learn. But in simple terms, this much destruction is caused by a mix of chemicals obtained through processing natural minerals mined from the earth. These chemicals is then triggered to cause a reaction."
"Uhh… you call that simple?
Aldred blinked. "Imagine if I explained the whole thing."
Nirder laughed. "Well, you magicians always confuse us anyways. I only got a little understanding about spells and magic, just enough to kill them. Hahaha!"
Aldred raised his palm and moved it around gracefully. Mana sparked on his fingertips, and blue mist formed around his palm. "It's not that complicated. First, understand yourself, and then understand nature. Just with these two, you can change the world around you."
He hovered one palm above the other, and the blue mist turned into a blue roaring dragon.
"I prefer the simple motion of swinging up and down, left and right," Nirder replied.
Aldred laughed. "Indeed, I prefer that as well."
"Huh? Are you a battle-magician?"
Battle-magicians were magicians that prefers close-range battles. They were also called dare-devils by others magicians because no magician ever wanted to get close to a warrior. Battle magicians usually had powerful spells that could only be used at close-range, but once hit, the damage they cause could knock a warrior of the same level out.
"I am a magician and also a warrior."
"Huh? Is that even possible?"
Aldred was quite surprised. "You didn't know?"
"Of course, I don't. One can only be one or the other."
Meben approached Nirder and whispered something in his ears.
"Why didn't anyone tell me this? A man that can become a powerful warriors and magician and is also a great golem master? Why didn't you tell me about this before?"
"I forgot, my lord."
"Forgot, my ass! What did I hire you for?"
"My lord, you didn't hire me. In fact, you don't even pay me, or any of our soldiers. None of us have ever received any payment."
"Didn't I assign someone to do that in my behalf."
"That person is already dead long ago, my lord."
"Then why didn't you say something?" Nirder raised his hand in annoyance.
"Well." Meben smiled. "I think we receive something far greater than anyone else can give."
Roa let out a small laugh and smiled as well.
Nirder smiled, knowing what they meant. "It's simply my duty to lead you all properly."
Meben and Roa looked at each other and chuckled. Only Nirder was the only noble who would try to sacrifice himself to protect his own army. He had done this many times and earned the absolute loyalty of his soldiers.
So even though they never receive any payments, none of them complained. They got food, a place to sleep, a place to train, and that was enough.
In effect, The Nirder family's spending on its military budget got reduced more than half ever since Nirder was the head of the family. This way, they could spend more towards their armors and weapons, and other resources, making the Swadedon's soldiers even more powerful than before.
"You have great underlings," Aldred said.
"They are not my underlings." Nirder turned around. "They're my brothers in arms."
Aldred laughed. "You are really something else. I admire you. Let's be friend."
"I admire the strong as well. Let's be an ally and help each other." Nirder shook Aldred's hand.
"So, what are you going to do to the city?" Nirder asked.
"My robots will fix the destroyed buildings. And then, you can have it."
"What? You take the city on your own."
"But it's supposed to be yours. I am just here to help."
"You saved our life, and you think I will let you give me the city? We owe you our lives, brother. Our hearts will be filled with shame if we take this city."
"I guess some people really do have honor," Aldred whispered to himself.
"Fine," Aldred said. "I will take this city. But should you need my help, just call me." He toss out a big metal telephone.
"What is this?"
"Just click that green button to call me if you need my help."
"In that case." Nirder threw a silver turtle at Aldred.
"Just crush that turtle if you need my help."
Aldred blinked as he looked at the silver turtle. "This is a weird-looking communication tool."
"You cannot say that, brother. Your communication tool looks like a steel pillow with a needle on top."
All of them laughed.
"Would you like to visit my territory?" Aldred asked.
"Of course! I would love to! In fact, you can visit me at anytime. I want to show you our great warriors! They are the best of the best!"
"I want to show you my golem army. They are the most numerous."
"I will visit you. I want to know what else you make. This aircraft thing really interest me."
A portal appeared beside Aldred, and Corduul stepped out.
"Wow! What the fuck is that?" Nirder pointed at Corduul.
"No worries. He is my friend."
"I could barely sense any living cells in his bodies… only the brain is normal. But… that soul, I rarely see a soul this powerful before."
Aldred always wondered about Corduul's soul as well. It was much thicker and violent than other tech priest. One theory he had was the soul was the source of creativity. Most of Mechanicum's top invention was created by Corduul. This include the CS-Armageddon-57, the City Killer, and the pseudo low Diamond Rank fighter robots.
He was probably the biggest contributor to the Mechanicum's arsenals.
But Corduul said there were other tech priest that was as smart and creative as him. Aldred wondered if that was true, because most Tech Priest were reluctant to show themselves.
