The rounds fired by the golems tore into the Holy Staff Army without mercy.
Soldiers fell one after another, spraying blood as they collapsed. The unlucky ones took hits to the forehead; their lives ended instantly as their brains were scattered across the dirt. Those who survived the initial volley scrambled to drag their wounded comrades into the safety of the shade.
The golems lowered their arms and resumed their march, their heavy footsteps falling in perfect unison. These inorganic weapons closed the distance to the Holy Staff Army with chilling steadiness.
Those were guns... They’ve built them directly into the golems' fingertips?
I narrowed my eyes at the machines' hands. Faint trails of white smoke drifted from their fingers—undeniable evidence of the discharge. At a glance, the modification wasn't obvious, but it appeared every finger served as a gun barrel.
It wasn't that the golems were unarmed; their weaponry was simply integrated into their massive frames. There was no need for them to carry external equipment. The inability to identify their armament by sight was a massive tactical advantage. From an opponent's perspective, there was no way to know what kind of attack was coming until the very last moment. Naturally, this made it effortless to catch the enemy off guard.
Humans used concealed weapons, of course, but the golems' internal firearms were the next logical evolution of that concept.
The Holy Staff Army launched a desperate counterattack, unleashing a barrage of magic and arrows. In response, the golems held their ground behind shimmering walls of defense magic. Before those robust barriers, the majority of the Holy Staff Army's efforts were rendered utterly moot.
Occasionally, the golems would raise their hands to fire again. Each volley added to the growing wall of corpses. Their aim was pinpoint accurate, systematically executing the soldiers even as they hid among the trees.
The machines were likely being remotely operated by casters back at the fortress. I could sense the threads of magic power connecting them. To make matters worse, the Technomagic Army’s soldiers began a follow-up assault from the fortress walls, raining down bolts from ballistas and crossbows. This suppressed any chance the Holy Staff Army had of regrouping.
The coordination between the soldiers and the golems was magnificent. It was clear they had spent countless hours training for this exact scenario.
Exposed and outgunned, the Holy Staff Army was forced into a disastrous position. They retreated inch by inch, their casualties mounting while they remained powerless to retaliate. Without closing the distance, they had no hope of victory, yet they lacked the momentum to even take a step forward. Even from my vantage point, I could see their morale crumbling.
"Uraaaaaah!"
A guttural war cry echoed across the battlefield.
One soldier from the Holy Staff Army charged. Moving with beast-like agility, he wove through the incoming fire and leaped at the nearest golem. He managed to slip past the defense magic at the moment of activation and slammed his longsword down with everything he had.
The golem’s head caved in where the blade struck, a deep crack spider-webbing across its metallic skull.
But that was the extent of the damage.
The golem continued its movements as if the strike were nothing more than an annoyance. It snatched the soldier by his ankle and slammed him against a nearby tree with sickening force.
The man's upper body was ripped clean away and sent flying. His scattered viscera drenched the golem’s frame.
Similar scenes played out across the front line. A golem’s fist would cause a soldier’s head to vanish in a red mist; another soldier was pinned under a heavy foot and executed with a point-blank shot to the chest. These were the men who had found the courage to attempt close-quarters combat, and for their bravery, they met ends far more wretched than those who had stayed back.
The golems' bodies were crafted from metal, and their very structures were optimized for war. Judging by how they weathered the assault, they were far more robust than any standard golem. They were sufficiently resilient even without their defense magic. When you added their inhuman physical strength to the mix, anyone reckless enough to approach was simply volunteering for a massacre. No matter how sluggish they might have appeared, they were more than fast enough to catch a human at arm's length.
To stop a metal golem, one had to deliver a blow powerful enough to instantly shatter the internal magic formula. You had to render it incapable of functioning as a magical puppet. Alternatively, absorbing the magic power that served as its fuel would work. Regardless, half-hearted physical strikes only invited a gruesome death.
"It is quite one-sided, is it not..." Grom murmured.
"It can't be helped. The matchup is simply too poor for the Holy Staff Army," I replied, my eyes never leaving the machines.
I noticed the magic power contained within the golems was steadily depleting. The consumption was particularly high whenever they deployed defense magic. Since every one of their functions relied on magic power, their operating time dropped significantly with every spell cast. It seemed the Technomagic Kingdom's golems were ill-suited for a war of attrition.
That said, they weren't in danger of stopping anytime soon. They had been charged with enough magic power to see a skirmish of this scale through to the end. In fact, considering the sheer number of features they possessed, their magic consumption was remarkably low. It was a feat of engineering that other nations likely couldn't dream of replicating. The internal mechanisms were a masterclass in ingenuity.
It was exactly what I expected from the Technomagic Kingdom.
The outcome is decided.
What remained of the Holy Staff Army finally began a full-scale retreat. They fled deeper into the woods, using magic to screen their escape. They headed away from the fortress—directly back toward the Holy Staff Kingdom's territory.
The golems did not pursue. The Technomagic Army’s victory was already absolute, and they were wise enough not to get greedy. Chasing the enemy into their own territory would only lead to unnecessary losses.
"The battle appears to be over. What are your orders, My Lord?"
"We're leaving. We've seen enough."
There was no sense in staying. It would only be a nuisance if the Technomagic Army spotted us. I invoked my teleportation magic and, in the blink of an eye, we were back in the Audience Chamber of the Royal Capital.
As we settled into the familiar surroundings of the palace, Grom made a theatrical, sweeping gesture.
"Oh? My, what do we have here...?"
At his feet lay a single golem. Its torso was torn open, its head split down the middle, and its internal mechanisms were exposed to the air. Its magic formula was shattered, leaving it completely inert.
"Demon King, this is..."
"A golem from the Technomagic Kingdom, obviously. I brought back a unit that was destroyed during the fighting."
Despite their overwhelming defeat, the Holy Staff Army had fought with enough desperation to take down a few units. This was one of them. I had simply taken the liberty of poaching the results of their struggle.
The Technomagic Army would eventually notice the unit was missing, but I didn't care. They would likely assume the Holy Staff Army had managed to haul it off as a trophy during the chaos. They would never dream that the Demon King had been watching from the shadows and made off with it after his reconnaissance.
It was a despicable move, even for me. But as the Demon King, I found it perfectly acceptable. The Holy Staff Kingdom would likely be blamed for the "theft," but since they were the ones who started this conflict for such selfish reasons, they could afford to shoulder that much.
I intended to turn this golem over to the Research Institute. I would let the staff analyze it and, if possible, begin the production of imitation-type golems. Since I am capable of golem creation magic myself, I only needed a proper base to work from. Having golem weapons with this level of performance at my disposal would be incredibly useful. They would provide a military force with a completely different utility than the undead.
Furthermore, this technology could surely be applied to other fields. It was an essential specimen for the researchers.
As for the Technomagic Kingdom, I decided to maintain my policy of simple observation. This war was born of the Holy Staff Kingdom's tyranny. Since it was they who had disrupted the peace between humans, I had no reason to penalize the Technomagic Kingdom.
Still, their technological prowess exceeded my expectations. It seemed they were hiding projects like these golems in sectors that even the Demon King's Army's spies couldn't penetrate. It was safe to assume they had other developments currently underway.
For now, the Technomagic Kingdom’s ultimate goal remained a mystery. Were they bolstering their forces to eventually march on the Demon King's Domain? The reports from my spies were inconclusive.
If they were building these machines solely for defense, I would leave them be. But if they ever chose to turn those guns toward my lands, I would ensure they paid a staggering price.
In preparation for that day, I would need to have my own measures in place.