Lord Of Puppets

(WHAT THE FUCK JUST HAPPENED?!) – thought Den.

(I didn’t saw any projectiles coming.... How they hell boss got suddenly blow up?!) – thought Den as he sense a magic coming from the cloud of dust, before moments later the leader of the Brutes, Gerald, leaped out of the smoke, bleeding.

"!"

"Boss!" – said Den.

"I’m fine!" – said Den as he grabbed one of the spikes that had pierced his body and removed it.

(Dammit.) – thought Gerald as he several wounds across his whole body.

(The hell was that?!)

(I couldn’t use my aura to protect myself in time... Still, I’ve managed to use that big ass blade of mine to somewhat block the attacks against my upper torso and face.)

(Still... This is beyond problematic. My defensive skills couldn’t fully protect me.) – thought Gerald as he was checking his wound and blood covered arm, before then noticing more of the weird hound golems approaching.

"!"

"EVERYBODY! GET AWAY FROM THE GOLEMS! SOME OF THEM ARE BOMBS!" – shouted Gerald, trying to warn his group about the bomb hounds.

However, his group wasn’t the only one getting blown up by the suicidal golems.

As all three groups fought the hound golems, which any warning, the bomb golems started getting mixed in.

And the Brutes who thought were fighting the regular hound golems were instantly caught off guard, resulting in many of the members getting right in the face with explosives as well as shrapnel and spikes which were sent flying by detonation of golems.

His dealt massive and critical damage to all 3 groups, effectively stopping them completely in tracks.

However, things weren’t exactly going great for golems either.

The Brutes unleashed demons at the golem, summoning 3 tall monstrosities called Limoses.

These tall monstrosities swung around their massive claws around, smashing the metallic golems in ease, which ended up getting in the long-range golems’ way, resulting in them being unable to unleash their volleys at the invaders.

(Shit! Demons?!) – thought alarmed Thauma as it was observing the trio of the demons going on the rampage.

(STOP THEM!) – order Thauma as the close combat soldier golems ran at the demons and began attacking them, while the crossbow golems also began shooting at the rampaging demons.

However, it soon became apparent that these demons were not only strong physically, but they also had somewhat high defense.

The blades and projectiles slashed, smashed and pierced their bodies... But be it bare or fur covered parts, the demon was taking nowhere near enough damage to truly bother the demons, resulting in them being still able to go on their rampage.

(Shit! This isn’t good!) – thought Thauma.

(What do I do? Do I sent the knights?)

(Or maybe boss monsters?)

(But what about the other invaders?!)

(....Boss monsters!) – Thauma ordered the boss monsters, the cavalry type and knight type boss variants to attack the demons.

(Crossbows! Move away from the demons and take these positions!)

(Balistes! Back off and aim for demons!)

(And... Bomb launchers, move away too and be on standby, don’t attack yet, unless the original invaders start moving too close!)

(Knights! You move to the front and wait for the original invaders! Attack them as soon as they got close!)

Thauma was somewhat used to the wars.... Well, somewhat.

It experience its chaos, its destruction, its often-unpredictable nature.

Thauma has accumulated some amount of experience form all the battles it had fought.

Be it from the personal battles, or battles where it led its troops.

Not only that, but it also received some education from both Porai and Ariava.

From Ariva, it received some knowledge about the wars.

Wars between people.

Between monsters.

Or between few people against an entire army.

Ariava taught Thauma somewhat about art of war.

As for Porai, she taught Thauma more about golems.

How to more easily control more golems.

How to command way larger number of golems more precisely.

As well as how to better code them to be able to fallow more precise orders.

The current Thauma can somewhat handle large scale battles now, way better compare to before.

However-

"DON’T LET THEM FUCKING SCARE YOU!" – shouted Gerald.

"KEEP YOUR DISTANCE AND FOCUS ONLY LONG-RANGE ATTACKS! TAKE DOWN THE WEIRD LOOKING ONES WITH A LOT OF PIKES! THEY ARE THE BOMS!"

"WATHC OUT FOR THE SRAPNAL! THEY ARE SENDING IT EVERYWHERE WHEN THEY BLOW UP!" – shouted Den as he created a wall of water, protecting his comrades from the incoming shrapnel.

The enemies that Thauma was facing were no pushovers.

They knew exactly how to fight and they were quickly adapting to any new bizarre things Thauma threw into the mix.

(But still, I don’t see them moving forward.) – thought Thauma as it was using its scout golem to observe the three groups.

(Good.)

(It should give my golems and Porai to get to them.)

Thauma wasn’t using its full army right now.

Or more exactly, it couldn’t from the get go.

Thauma and Porai were not sure from which direction the enemy may attack, and because this territory lacked any natural self-defense, Thauma needed to evenly spread his troops all round its defensive line, forming a massive ring.

Obviously, the moment all 3 groups appeared, Thauma ordered the entire army to regroup to the newly formed frontlines.

But that would take time.

Not only that, it is some distance from the dungeon to the frontline, meaning it would also take a bit for Porai to arrive at the frontlines, even while using her enchantment magic as well as her already high speed in order to reach her destination.

But still, the boss golems that were in the area were able to somewhat able to buy some time, while the bomb hound golems alongside bomb launcher golems were able to pin down the enemies, making them unable to move the way they would want.

(Still, it is ammunition.) – thought Thauma.

(Obviously not every single bomb hound golem is here, nor the bomb launcher golem.)

(There is a good chance that the I will run out of the throwing bombs and bomb hounds, resulting in the enemy being able to move.)

(And if they regroup with the demons, then it could be beyond problematic.)

The multi armed knight golem boss tried attacking the demon with its two halberds, but the tall demon blocked all strikes with its massive furry arms, before then lifting up its foot, alarming the boss monster as it lifted up its two shields to defend itself, just as the demon unleashed its kick thrust that was aimed right at the golem’s chest, smashing the shields with its foot.

The boss monster was pushed by the impact, but it was able to somehow survive the blow thanks to its shields.

However, in the next moment, the demon went feral as it unleashed blow after blow, not carrying about its defense as it was unleashing kicks and punches at the boss monster... Before then swinging its claw, which smashed into the shields, moving them away from the chest of the golem because of the impact.

And that in tur resulted in the opening being made, allowing the boss monster to once again kick the golem, this time in its ungraded chest, which resulted in the boss monster not only getting pushed back, but straight up getting even thrown to the ground.

The boss monster tried going for the finisher, but the soldier golems attacked the tall demon, firing their crossbows and swinging their blades.

They couldn’t deal any fatal damage to the massive demon though... But they at least caught the savage monster’s attention as it swung around its arms and smashed the metallic creatures into bits.

However, this in turn gave the boss knight golem to stand up and attack once again, landing somewhat good blows which caused the demon to bleed.

(Its bleeding!) – thought Thauma as it saw the creature’s green blood leaking from its body.

(It means they-)

But in the very next moment, the creature began swinging nonstop its arms, smashing the boss monster and dealing noticeable amount of damage... To the point it even managed to grab one of the boss golem’s arms and just rip it off, removing one of the shield wielding arms, before then using the ripped off arm like a mace to smack over and over the boss golem who counter attacked with its halberds’ pikes, stabbing the creature.... But that was not enough as swung around its free hand, smashing into the shield that tried to defend the boss golem... The blow was blocked, but the shield itself ended up bending somewhat, while at the same time the arm which held the shield was moved aside, giving the demonic beast opening to use the ripped off arm to smack the boss golem right in the face with it.

(DAMN! THE HELL IS THIS?!) - thought Thauma as it saw how feral the demon was.

(Does that thing not care abouts its wellbeing?! It is going full offe-)

However, right then Thauma saw it.

The wounds of the creature slowly closing up.

"..."

(Oh... Regeneration.)

"..."

(What the fuck?)