Lord Of Puppets-Chapter 179 – Welcome to the golem forest – Part 2.

Chapter 179: Chapter 179 – Welcome to the golem forest – Part 2.

"..."

"..."

"!"

"THEY ARE HERE!" – shouted Randolf as the group of golems started approaching the adventurers who were waiting for their enemy arrival.

"!"

"Shit! There are these new ones!" – shouted the beast-human as he spotted several golems made out of earth, acting like the frontliners.

The tall golems made out of earth walked towards the adventurers, straight up forming a massive wall that approached the adventurers.

(Not yet.... Not yet....) – thought nervous Randolf as the group of earth golems were coming closer and closer.

(Keep it cool.... You have one shot at this....) – thought nervous Randolf as the golems started getting dangerous close to the adventurers’ position.

"..."

"..."

"..."

"!"

"NOW!" – shouted Randolf as exactly moment later, the massive trees around the golems started falling right on top of them, crushing several golems right on the spot.

"GO! WHILE THEY ARE DOWN!" – shouted Randolf as the group that baited the golems as well as additional adventurers who were laying wait all began rushing towards the golems.

The adventurers straight up "jumped" the golems, attacking them while they were down.... But the earth golems weren’t so easily defeated.

They survived the falling trees and were able to even able to somewhat lift off the massive trees off their bodies.

"Oh no you don’t!" – but the adventurers somewhat predicted that possibility, as they bear woman rushed in and stuck one of the golems in their leg, chipping away parts of their body.

"?!"

"The hell?" – said the bear woman as she quickly backed away as one of the earth golems swung down their arms, missing their attack but wrecking up the ground.

(They are made out dirt and rocks.... Right?) – thought the bear beastwoman as she realized that something was off about her strike.

"Don’t let them lift up trees! Restrict these bastards’ movements!" – shouted Randolf as one of the earth golems swung their arms at the dwarf, who just in time managed to react and use his shield to block the attack.

"!"

"Shit! Those things have some power!" – shouted Randolf as he shifted his shield, causing the golem arm to go past the dwarf, who then quickly counter attacked with his one-handed mace, hitting the golem in the side.

"!"

(What was that?) – thought the dwarf as he also felt that something was bit off about his strike.

"Hey! The info said that they were made out of earth, right?!" – asked the dwarf as he blocked another golem attack before then quickly backing away.

"THAT WHAT THEY SAID!" – shouted the beast-human with a crossbow as he gave some cover fire with his crossbow.

"Are you bloody sure!?" – asked the dwarf as he attacked the golems again with his mace.

"Because it doesn’t feel like I’m hitting dirt or rocks!" - shouted the dwarf as he and other adventurers started realizing that something was off about the earth golems, as not only their attack power was somewhat strong, but their endurance was somewhat good.

Something that shouldn’t be expected from the thing that was made out of dirt.

"[Hammer Art: Heavy]!" – Randolf used his weapon art, striking one of the golems arms and detaching it.

"Calm down! These bastards maybe weird, but they can be destroyed!" – shouted Randolf who was leading the frontliners.

"!"

"SHIT! HEY! SECOND WAVE COMING!" – shouted the beast-human with a crossbow, who spotted a second wave of golems, this time mostly made out of humanoid golems.

A group of humanoid golems with a long blade arm and a crossbow arm took aim, alongside a over two meters tall golem knight, whom had two a triple crossbow combined arm with a bend blade attached underneath.

"!"

"TAKE COVER!" – shouted the beast-human as all of the adventurers instantly raised up their guards or hid behind the behind golems, or just used the earth golems as their shields, before moments later a hail of crossbows came their way.

Some of the adventurers were able to survive the shots quiet easily, but some were unlucky and got hit few times.

"Oh common! They still have enough bolts to fire those things!?" – shouted the bear beastwoman who was forced to raise up her guard with her shield gauntlets, protecting herself somewhat from the projectiles, before then noticing a sudden shadow that appearing near her.

The beastwoman quickly raised up her gauntlets, protecting herself from the earth golem attack... But unfortunately, leaving herself right open for the barrage of crossbows, as three crossbow bolts manage to hit her side.

"!"

"SHIT! LADY!" – shouted Randolf as he quickly rushed towards the bear beastwoman and using his shield to protect the bear woman.

"I’m fine! I’m wearing thick armor! Even if they hit me, they won’t land a solid blow on me!" – replied the beastwoman who then quickly knocked back the earth golem who was attacking her.

But as she dealt with one golem, another one came, aiming for the dwarf.

The beastwoman tried quickly helping out the dwarf, but there was not enough time.

That would be the case if the arm of the golem wasn’t suddenly detached by the crossbow bolt that destroyed the construct’s shoulder, disarming the golem and giving the bear woman a chance to land a solid smack on the golem with her gauntlet, ripping apart the chunks of its body and knocking the living object down.

"..."

"You got to be fucking kidding me." – said the bear woman in annoyance and disbelieve as the earth golem she just landed a critical hit against was still showing signs of activity.

"HEY! WHY THE HELL ARE THEY MOVING!?" – shouted the beastwoman.

"Didn’t you said that they need to suffer enough damage to die!?"

"I don’t know! Maybe these ones are different?!" – replied the blond-haired leader.

"Still! They should have cores inside of their bodies! Wreck them or remove them from the body! It will definitely kill them!"

"Got it!" – replied the bear beastwoman who took the step forward towards the fallen golem, aiming to finish it off.

"IDIOT! FRONT!" – however, right as she was about to do it, a golem puppet soldier with a sword and shield tried attacking the bear woman.

But fortunately for her, the crossbow bolt fired by the beast-human was able to land a powerful enough hit on the golem’s chest, stopping the creature in tracks and giving the bear woman a chance to strike the golem, knocking it away.

"!"

"Ah... Fuck me." – but as she knocked one, she noticed several other golems coming her way.

"Shit! Back away! Don’t let them surround you!" – shouted Randolf, ordering the adventurers to back away as the second wave of the golems has reached and united with the first wave, while the earth golems started freeing themselves from the adventurers’ trap.

(Fuck! This isn’t good!) – thought Randolf.

(These bastards can be killed, but their defense is annoying.)

(We can somewhat predict their movements, which does gives us big advantage.)

(But... Now I bloody realize.)

(These earth golems.)

(They were meant to stall "us".)

(Were they also baits?)

(These are fucking tactic!)

(Shit! Is the enemy leader, the dungeon master, somewhat controlling these golems in real time? Or are they-)

*CAW* *CAW*

"!"

"RETREAT SIGNAL! EVERYBODY! MOVE!" – shouted blond-haired leader as the hidden members of the Silver Talon’s party used the crow sounding whistle.

"E-eh?! Already!?" – asked confused bear beastwoman who was getting attacked by the warrior puppet soldier golems, who then began getting shot at with arrows, bolts and magic.

"If the signal went off that means we got what we came for!" – replied the blond-haired party leader as he began applying new buffs to the adventurers.

"Now move it! We ain’t fighting until we die!"

"Tch! But it started getting interesting!" – replied complaining bear beastwoman.

"STOP COMPLAINING LIKE A FUCKING CHILD AND MOVE IT!" – shouted pissed off the youngest member of the party with blond-hair, as he and several other frontliners started backing off, forcing the beastwoman to fallow the others lead.

Once again, the adventurers from each group began running away from the golems, this time aiming to escape the enemy.

As the adventurers ran, they stuck nearby trees that were already cut and were in the state where they could easily fall down.

With the set-up traps and other preparations, the adventurers were able to somewhat slow down the golems, giving them enough time shake off the golems for a moment, allowing the adventurers to somewhat put some distance between themselves and golems.

[Meanwhile: Camp outside of the forest.]

"..."

"..."

"!"

"MA’AM! THE PEOPLE ARE COMING OUT OF THE FOREST!" – shouted the knight with spy glass, as several adventurers began appearing out of the forest and running at full speed towards the camp at the hill.

"GET READY YOU ALL! TO THE POSITIONS! GO! GO! GO!" – shouted the guild master as the entire camp became active, with pretty much every single soldiers, knight and adventurer getting ready to fight.

The sweating adventurers made their way towards the camp and were quickly dragged behind the line of defenders.

"Is that all!? Are there any more of you?!" – asked the guild master as she approached the exhausted long brown haired female human adventurer.

"Y-yes! Those are all people!" – replied the female adventurer.

"KEEP YOUR WATCH!" – shouted the wolf beast-human adventurer.

"AS SOON AS YOU SEE GOLEM, FUCKING HIT THEM WITH EVERYTHING! YOU GET IT!? HIT THEM WITH ALL THE SHIT YOU HAVE!"

The adventurers nervously stared at the edge of the forest, waiting for any signs of appearance of golems... But nothing came.

Instead, more and more groups of adventurers started making their way out of the forest, until the very last group, the one being led by the dwarf and the blond-haired human had both returned back.

"...Anything?" – asked the nervous guild master.

"No.... There is nothing at all." – said the human knight who was in charge of the defensive line.

"...Hey! Did you saw something when you ran!? Were they chasing you?!" – asked the guild master as she approached the barely breathing blond-haired leader who just alongside his group managed to get behind the line of defense.

"N-no! At one point.... We realized we couldn’t see them anymore... I don’t know if they are chasing us or if the traps slowed them down more than we had thought." – replied the blond-haired leader as the dwarven woman suddenly approached the group and started handing each adventurer a water flasks.

"...Keep up the line of the defense! There is no telling if those bastards given up or not!" – said the guild master.

"All of our people got out! Shoot anything you see even remotely moving anywhere! You hear me! Shot when you see something!"

"Yes, guild master!" – replied the mage.

"...."

"You do remember there was still us, right?" – asked the leader of the Silver Talons as all the people nearby were completely caught off guard.

"W-where the hell they came from!?" – asked scared soldier as the Silver Talons party approached the guild master.

"I knew you would be able to escape and you have already proven your ability. So, there was no need to worry about anything." – replied the guild master.

"Still.... Did you get them?"

"Yeah, we did." – said the leader of the Silver Talons as he moved aside, revealing his party members holding some parts of the golems, including the massive golem core.

"Per plan, we managed to pick off some of the golems when nobody was paying attention to us and we were able to get some of their parts."

"Good.... Very good." – said the guild master as she observed the golem parts.

(The first phase of operation wasn’t about gathering a large number of golem parts, only a small part.) – thought the guild master.

(Some people managed to get hold of golem parts, while some don’t.... But what matters is that we did gotten some. The amount we had gotten maybe not big, but it should be more than enough for that guy to do something.)

(Still...) – thought the worried guild master as she stared at the exhausted and injured adventurers.

(A lot of bastards are injured... And some came up in beaten up state.)

(I can tell that many if not most of the people survived... But did we had some loses?)

(How strong were these golems?)

"..."

(Not only that.... Why are they not attacking us?) – thought worried guild master as she stared at the forest.

(If they chased after the people that went in, we should had seen already some golems coming after us, who were chasing the first group which managed to make it back.)

"Are they not chaining after the people because they wish to protect the dungeon?" – said the guild master to herself as she started biting on her nail.

"..."

"Or are they aware of us waiting for them?"

"God fucking dammit."

(Even though we just started, things are already not looking so good.) – thought guild master as she once again gazed at the adventurers who managed to escape the forest.

(And we have YET to start the "real" battle.)

"..."

(Still, there is chance that our plan worked out.)

(If the people to fought the golems obtained some information regarding the creatures, we may obtain a better understanding of the danger we are facing.)

(And not only that... We have these now.) – thought the guild master as she stared at the pile of golem parts.

"Maybe now we will learn what we are dealing with right now."