Ever since that emergency meeting called by the Big Boss, the Corck organization’s forces had been pressing their advantage with relentless fury. The defending gangs and workers buckled under the onslaught, falling back again and again, and the situation grew more desperate by the hour.
Vista now found himself in the grim position of having no subordinates left to command. The gang’s defensive lines were crumbling under the enemy’s tide-like assault, teetering on the verge of total collapse at any moment.
At this point, the only strongholds still holding out were the gang’s heavily fortified headquarters and the lonely stretch of Mobis City Railway Station.
Though Vista and his people had thrown everything they had into breaking out, the results had been bitterly disappointing. For now, their only hope rested on the plan he and Renith had thrashed out together.
In his hands, Vista clutched the magic scrolls Renith had handed out during that meeting. Sealed inside each one was a golem—and these, he knew, were the key to turning the tide and snatching victory from the jaws of defeat.
At dusk that day, the setting sun bled red across the sky. Vista slipped seamlessly into a student patrol, head lowered, steps steady, and managed to infiltrate one of Corck’s garrison posts.
Of course, he wasn’t acting alone. Leoro, Oseku, and the remaining workers had all mobilised as well, each tasked with a different objective: to destroy various garrison points and the two crucial bridges spanning the Mobis River.
At the same time, under the Big Boss’s command, the gang poured out in full force, planning to reclaim their lost ground under cover of night and restore their battered morale.
Having peeled away from the student patrol, Vista now stood at the entrance of a tavern—the very place where Corck’s soldiers wound down after each day’s fighting and patrolling.
From inside, the kind of decadent music that a boy his age had no business hearing drifted out into the street.
Boom!
Two colossal explosions rang out almost simultaneously, like thunderclaps that shook the very earth.
So Leoro and Oseku had successfully used their golems to smash the bridges, cutting off the enemy’s retreat.
For now, the soldiers on both banks were isolated, unable to reinforce each other—and that made this the perfect moment to strike and take back their territory.
Gunfire erupted all around, like war trumpets sounding the charge.
Without hesitation, Vista tore open the scroll. A cold liquid seeped out, cascading to the ground like a waterfall, radiating an aura of mystery and raw power.
In no time, a golem standing four metres tall and made almost entirely of water loomed in the middle of the street.
“Use its power to drag every soldier inside out.”
Back at the meeting, Renith had briefly explained each golem’s abilities.
The Earth Golem was armed with Earth Magic: Crush; the Wind Golem with Wind Magic: Wind Slash; and the Water Golem with Water Magic: Coiling Bind.
The Earth Golem would be most effective on the front lines, the Wind Golem was better suited for dealing with small numbers, and while the Water Golem lacked offensive punch, it excelled at restraining and capturing enemies.
When all the scrolls had been laid out before them, Vista had chosen the Water Golem without a second thought.
He understood that for a covert strike, especially one where they wanted to avoid harming civilians, the Water Golem was the right call. Besides, if those soldiers were still carrying that eerie power from a few days ago, he could simply choke them into unconsciousness—bypassing any need to directly confront that sinister force.
The Water Golem’s tentacles slipped silently into the building.
One by one, it hauled out the soldiers inside—some lost in pleasure, others deep in drunken slumber.
Vista watched it all with cold detachment, his mind eerily calm. Behind his eyes, the faces of the workers these soldiers had slaughtered flashed by, and in his ears, Krelesi’s warning echoed.
In this war, pity would only drag you into deeper danger.
After rounding up every soldier along the way, Vista followed Manwell’s directions to Mobis City Prison.
He forced himself to endure the stench of decay and the acrid reek of death that hung in the air, and locked the soldiers away one by one. These captives would serve as crucial bargaining chips in future negotiations with Corck’s forces.
Over at Leoro and Oseku’s position…
The explosions from the bridges had, of course, alerted Corck’s Baron and Viscount. They moved swiftly, and Leoro and Oseku—lying in ambush by the bridges—each found themselves squaring off against a Baron.
“What in the world is this?”
Both Barons stared in shock at the four-metre-tall golems made of solid rock.
Seizing the moment of their hesitation, Leoro and Oseku bolted in opposite directions.
They weren’t fools. They knew full well they were no match for these Barons in a straight fight; their only hope was to use the golems to tie them down. Their final command to the golems was simple: hold the Barons back and buy time for everyone else.
And if the enemy ended up losing two Barons in the process, then the workers and the gang together might just turn the tide and earn themselves a new lease on life.
The stone golem moved. Its massive fist slammed into the ground, carving a deep fissure through the earth.
“Its power is on par with a Viscount’s!”
one of the Barons exclaimed, suddenly realising just how troublesome this would be.
As a Baron, he couldn’t project his Qi outward—he could only circulate it internally to boost his agility and strength.
In essence, he was still just an ordinary person who could scale walls and run on rooftops; he couldn’t hold a candle to a Viscount.
A Viscount, by contrast, could project their Qi outward, and any material they touched could become an extension of their combat power. With a single punch, they could shatter a stone wall—a level of strength not to be underestimated.
And yet this nameless monstrosity before him possessed power on that very level… Had all their years of gruelling training been for nothing?
As much as he grumbled inwardly, he knew that with his own strength alone, he stood no chance against this creature.
So he drew his pistol and fired. But the bullets simply sank into the golem’s body and vanished, as though swallowed whole, leaving no damage behind.
“Still, this thing’s got its weaknesses—it’s painfully slow.”
“Aside from its attack power and defence, it’s completely useless in every other way.”
“In other words, if you can keep your distance and you’ve got a gun that can pierce it, even an ordinary person could kill this golem.”
That was the Baron’s assessment.
With that, he leaped several metres back. The giant golem took two steps forward and then stopped, as if waiting for its next order.
Leoro could see exactly what the Baron was thinking, but he had no intention of pursuing. The golem’s stored magical energy was limited, and right now, his main goal was to keep this Baron occupied—not destroy him. He knew his mission, and he wasn’t about to let impulse ruin the bigger plan.
Over on the other side, Oseku did the same. He and Leoro were on the same page: stall the enemy, and when necessary, go into standby mode to conserve the golem’s magic.
Seeing that the golems weren’t chasing them, both Barons independently decided to withdraw.
They figured it was a better use of their time to deal with the gang’s night raid—that was where the real action was—rather than keep tangling with these monsters.
But they’d barely gone a few steps when, almost in unison, two massive boulders came crashing down from above.
The stones slammed into the ground, kicking up clouds of dust that forced them to retreat. Behind them, the enormous golems blocked the street, making it clear they intended to trap them here and give them no chance to escape.
“Head east (west)!”
Both Barons scanned their surroundings, spotted nearby alleys, and dashed in opposite directions. They knew that only by weaving through the maze-like lanes could they shake off the monsters’ pursuit.
Seeing this, Leoro and Oseku had no choice but to halt their golems. They knew all too well that Earth Golems weren’t suited for chasing, and the narrow alleyways offered no room for the golems to manoeuvre.
So they returned to the ruined bridges and continued to block the Corck soldiers who were trying to gather and cross the river by boat.
The Baron who had fled east tore through the tangled web of alleys.
At last, he burst out of the labyrinth and into an open street. He gulped down the fresh air as if trying to expel every ounce of exhaustion the golem had wrung out of him.
“Another minute and I’d have been done for.”
Just then, another dark figure came racing in from the west.
The first Baron’s instincts screamed danger. He spun around, fist raised, only to see that the newcomer was wearing a Corck military command uniform. His taut nerves finally eased—a little.
“Hey, weren’t you headed that way?”
The first Baron pointed east, his brow furrowed in confusion.
“Oh, haha… I dealt with things over there, so I came here instead.”
The second Baron laughed it off, his tone carrying a hint of casual pride.
The first Baron couldn’t help but feel a twinge of envy. That guy’s job must’ve been easy… No giant stone golem to deal with, no life-or-death cat-and-mouse game.
“What about you?”
The second Baron asked, his gaze laced with feigned concern.
“Finished it, of course! Easy as pie.”
The first Baron did his best to hide his dishevelment, forcing a stiff smile.
If word got out that he’d been running for his life like a scared dog, he’d never live it down.
Worse still, if this fellow reported to the Viscount—or even Corck himself—that he’d fled without a fight, he’d be in for a beating at best, and at worst, a demotion.
He’d have to play his part well, he decided. No slips.
The second Baron, meanwhile, felt a pang of envy too. Looks like this guy didn’t run into the stone golem at all—lucky bastard. If only I’d been that fortunate.
And so the two of them stood there, eyeing each other in silence.
“I’m heading to reinforce another sector. You?”
The second Baron broke the quiet.
“Haha… Same here.”
The first Baron quickly agreed.
“Together, then?”
The second Baron suggested.
“Sure!”
The first Baron accepted without a second thought. Whether the other man had offered the way out intentionally or not, he was taking it.
And so, side by side, they set off toward the main clash between the gang and Corck’s forces. Their figures gradually blurred into the night, and before long, they vanished into the darkness at the street’s end.
