'Any idea why they are made of both metal and stone? What's the advantage in that?' Lith opened a Warp Steps, allowing the others to reach the camp in a split second, while he covered their retreat.
'I have a few theories, but none of your liking.' Solus knew that Lith was hoping she could find the Odi's trademark fatal flaw of design that would allow him to effortlessly destroy them.
'No visible power switch? No cable fueling them?'
'None that I can see. Why are you still here?' She asked after he closed the Warp Steps the moment the last of his allies had crossed it.
Lith's reply came in the form of a giant mass of blue Origin Flames aimed at the closest Golem. Much to his dismay, the constructs waved their hands in unison, making the sand wave turn into a shield that smothered the flames like a wet towel.
'Four versus one isn't good. They simply have to use the mass of the sand and their mana flow to overpower Origin Flame's effects. Now, for my next trick…' Lith conjured the tier one Float spell.
He could have used gravity magic, but he was afraid that sending them against the ceiling would only give them more earth to manipulate. The fungal creature had employed the same strategy, exploiting the stalactites to circumvent Kulah's array.
Golems lacked creativity and Lith didn't want to give them ideas. Float, instead, was supposed to lift them from the ground long enough to make them deplete their energy.
The Golems had the sand coil around their limbs like an anchor, but that was within Lith's calculations. He conjured a big wave of water that drenched the sand, allowing him to easily freeze and destroy the footholds.
The Golems, however, had yet to tell their side of the story. One of them unleashed a stream of purple flames that vaporized the ice while another used a tendril of sand as a sling to throw itself at Lith.
The flying Golem's arm opened, revealing what looked like a Gatling gun that instead of metal cylinders had magic wands.
'This bodes poorly.' Lith thought as the Golem activated the wands in pairs, releasing at the same time a burst of flames and a blast of wind.
Wands could only store up to tier three spells, but thanks to the Golem's clockwork precision in both aiming and timing their cast, the synergy between the air and fire elements boosted the power behind its attack on the level of a tier four spell.
Lith could see with Life Vision where the construct was aiming, but it had so many wands that Lith had no place to retreat. The perfectly chained explosions blackened the streets of Kulah and made its walls tremble until the oxygen in the area was completely consumed, smothering the flames.
The Golems used the cover that the smoke provided them to release chains of purple lightning. By combining their efforts, not a single centimeter in front of them was spared by the electrical onslaught.
Their creator had devised this strategy starting from the assumption that the lack of air would make the enemy incapable of defending themselves. It was a two-pronged attack executed without a split second of delay.
And that was the reason it failed. Lith had timed his Blink so that the explosions would cover his escape, hoping that the massive release of mana would jam the Golems' sensors.
'I have good news and I've bad news.' Solus swallowed loudly despite the fact she lacked a throat.
'The good news is that your plan worked. The Golems have just wasted a lot of mana in the attempt to kill you. The bad news is that they have still plenty of juice left.'
By the time Lith Blinked inside the camp, the others were still casting their first spell. Several blades almost struck at his throat, believing him to be an enemy.
"I'm the student and you are the Professors. Do any of you have something to take them down?" Lith asked.
Yondra finished her chant before answering.
"Yes and no. Here the ground can be manipulated and I've yet to use my best tools, so yes, there's a lot I can do. No, because there is no way to destroy a golem in one hit. Unless you know where their core is and manage to damage it, of course."
Golems could move their power cores freely within their bodies, but Lith could clearly see them thanks to Life Vision. His problem was how to destroy them.
"I know it may sound crazy, but I've trashed Golems before." Morok said, drawing everyone's attention. "Spells are just a waste of mana. The quickest way to get rid of them is to go in close quarters and expose their power cores."
"How do you propose to do that?" Phloria asked. A crazy plan was better than no plan.
"You guys stop trying to damage them, you would only risk hurting us." Morok said while pointing at Lith and himself.
"Some of you have to use spells that can hinder their movements or throw them off balance, while the rest must wait for the moment the power core gets exposed and strike with all they have got."
The Golems reached Kulah's gates and unleashed a hail of electromagnetically charged stone bullets. The defensive arrays trembled, but they managed to nullify the attack.
The Golems scanned the magical formation for a split second before resuming their assault. Since the bullets bounced on the barrier, they could quickly retrieve them and use them again as if they had infinite ammo.
The four constructs focused their fire on the same exact spot, weakening the barrier enough for one of them to slip inside.
"What are you waiting for? A written invite?" Morok said. "Keep them busy while we take care of the unwanted guest."
Lith was way ahead of him, using the tier five spell, Land Shark. It conjured a stone maw filled with magma right under his enemy. Without the sand to boost its movements, the maw was supposed to take care of the Golem's lower body while Morok attacked high.
Unfortunately, the construct's body promptly reacted to the threat by activating an Earth Blocking array that dispelled the stone jaws even before they could fully open.
'Those Odi were idiots to the bone.' Morok thought. 'What good is such an array to a stone-made creature? Now the Golem is paralyzed by his own hand and it can't block my war hammers.'
The Odi mage who had designed the Golems had Forgemastered them out of an iron-rich ore exactly for that reason. The metal allowed the Golems to use air magic to generate powerful magnetic fields that could be used to move them while they were under the influence of the array or as a guide for their lightning-based attacks.
The apparently helpless Golem used both those abilities at once, using its own electromagnetic field to raise its arms, using them to block the attack of the enemy, and unleashed a purple bolt of lightning.
The construct split the spell evenly, striking at all the members of the expedition at once. Morok was struck at point-blank so he was also the first one to fall. He gritted his teeth, trying to not lose consciousness while his entire body sizzled, emitting the characteristic smell of barbeque.
