The Golem Mage

Note: It has been two weeks since my exams began, and I have finally returned. It hasn’t been easy, but I’m glad to be back, and I hope my project won’t keep me away for this long again.

With the Bearmen at the forefront, the Were-Tiger beastkins brimmed with confidence, certain of their victory against the approaching vanguard of human mage Cavalry.

This assurance of theirs stemmed from the knowledge that the Bearmen possessed exceptional proficiency in shattering such heavily armored military mage units.

As they charged forward from a distance, the Bearmen planted their feet firmly into the earth, by leveraging their raw physical strength alongside their earth manipulation affinity, they were able to uproot massive stones shaped like oversized ostrich eggs.

Typically, extracting stones directly from the soil leaves behind jagged, irregular edges; however, the projectiles pulled up by the Bearmen were surprisingly smooth and uniform.

This perfect shape was achievable solely through their mastery of earth control, which enabled them to compress the harvested stone into a dense form to maximize impact power upon launch.

While observing the dense boulders suspended in mid-air ahead, Unbreakable slightly raised an eyebrow. Yet, despite the looming barrage that was about to rain at them, he seems to remain unperturbed by it.

He had been formulating strategies to secure a swift victory before the two trailing military units behind him could catch up. Contrary to Alec’s assumptions, Unbreakable had no intention of sharing the glory of defeating the beastkins with the other units, and given the versatility of his unit, he was confident in their ability to eliminate the enemy force entirely on their own.

The Bearmen’s recent move however seems to have provided the spark of inspiration he needed, clarifying the exact tactic required to bring about their rapid defeat.

”Cavalry defensive formation!” Unbreakable commanded.

In response, the heavy armored cavalry positioned at the front grunted and patted their rhino mounts, as a grayish glow began to seep from their bodies, ascending directly into the sky.

As the grey aura from each of the 500 cavalry mage soldiers converged above, the energy then merged into the formidable shape of a massive grey rhino beast.

Though the rhino manifestation resembled a younger breed, its body was partially clad in light armor, however despite looking young the sheer fury etched across its face was unmistakablely there.

Just as the ethereal image took shape, the Bearmen lieutenant issued the command to unleash their massive, egg-shaped stones.

The Bearmen warriors instantly launched their salvo, by thrusting their massive right fists forward, as a deafening roar echoed across the field as more than 2,000 enormous rocks hurtled directly toward the human cavalry formation.

While the Bearmen themselves were lumbering, their assault was deceptively swift, as the stones traveled with such blinding speed that they left afterimages trailing in their wake.

“Shields up!” Unbreakable bellowed immediately he saw the attack heading their way.

Behind him, the heavily armored group shielding the remaining three cavalry units thrust their left hands forward.

Which caused a translucent gray QI to materialize into protective shield barriers before them as it interlocked with each other, while all of these were happening they still made sure that their right hands firmly maintained control over the reins of their rhinoceros mounts.

Mere moments after they raised their shields high, the massive boulder-like stones slammed into their ranks, the impact was brutal, that several unprepared heavy armored cavalrymen were who hadn’t locked their grey Qi shield with the rest got blasted into the air and unseated from their mounts instantly.

Conversely, those who had braced themselves well remained seated firmly on their mount, as many of them were laughing as they watched their captain leading the charge up ahead.

Swinging his two-handed polearm effortlessly with a single hand after coating it with his mana, Unbreakable cleaved stone after stone, creating an impenetrable defense around those close to him.

At that exact instant, the mental image of the rhino that had manifested above them by merging their collective aura seemed to spring to life, snorting as it traversed the air as if charging across open terrain.

Having weathered the single stone salvo, the cavalry had already used that momentum to close the distance, and with Unbreakable at the helm, they pierced the enemy lines in a straight, relentless wedge, slaughtering their way deep into the Bearmen’s formation.

It quickly devolved into an absolute massacre; while numerical superiority typically decides the outcome on a massive battlefield,

However, that was not the case today, because most of the heavy armored cavalrymen possessed not only a higher average cultivation realm, but also superior equipment that significantly boosted their stats.

Additionally, the ethereal rhino aura encompassing Unbreakable and the front line of five hundred heavy armored cavalry—(minus the few lost to the stone salvo)—substantially bolstered their overall defense as they were attacked by the Bearmen.

As they breached the enemy lines, the riders leveraged the height of their rhinoceros mounts to match the tall Bearmen.

They focused their heavy weapons exclusively on delivering fatal blows to the heads of their foes. Simultaneously, their mounts used their primary weapon—their deadly horns—to gore anyone standing in their path rather than merely charging forward.

So the striking was happening simultaneously from two angles—the riders targeting the heads above and the rhinos piercing the groins below, all these left the Bearmen with a lethal dilemma, because whichever area they chose to defend, the undefended region faced devastating harm.

Far behind the crumbling Beastkin formation, the leading Bearman general watched in growing displeasure as his subordinates were effortlessly slaughtered by the cavalry.

“Let’s move.” Unable to endure watching his troops get slaughtered any longer, the Bearman general finally said to the other General beside him as he had reached his breaking point. \

His gaze locked onto Unbreakable, having realized that the Cavalry unit leader was the linchpin of the human cavalry formation, and if Unbreakable should fall, then the rest of the unit would collapse like a house of cards.

Beside him, the Were-Tiger general hesitated to join the fray, given that his own forces had not yet suffered casualties. However, witnessing the ferocious onslaught of the human cavalry, he knew with certainty that once the Bearmen were wiped out, his army would be the next target.