Chapter 568 – Turtle.

“What are those strange golems?”

“I don’t know, but they’re on our side!”

Two soldiers exchanged words as more and more magical constructs attached themselves to the castle walls. The process was swift, and before long, the golems were firing cannons that matched the power of their heaviest magical ballistae. Even more surprising, they outnumbered the soldiers’ own magical devices and took up significantly less space. With their relentless fire, monsters began to fall in waves, and for now, the enemy was being pushed back from scaling the walls.

“I thought that bast– I mean, the other brother was more… useless? Who are these people?”

The soldier caught himself, lowering his voice. They had all seen the grand illusion projected over the city. No one without true power could have created something so immense. Either the rumors about Arthur Valerian were false, or someone even stronger, perhaps the eldest brother, was backing him.

“What does it matter? Help is help! Now shut up and get back to your post. This isn’t over!”

However, the enemy’s retreat did not last long. For every monster torn apart by magic cannon fire, two more seemed to rise in its place, crawling from the darkness beyond the walls like an endless tide of nightmares. Roland moved quickly, hands crackling with magic, restoring more defenses and positioning his golems along key weak points. His mind calculated distance, angle, magical drain, and structural stress all at once. He had no time to waste.

‘It’s going well for now but…’

Roland analyzed the situation from a distance. His golems were performing well, but they could not match the finely tuned defenses of Albrook, which had been engineered to be the best. In terms of power and effectiveness, these temporary golemic turrets were, on average, thirty percent weaker than their stationary counterparts. To make matters worse, they also overheated and burned through magical energy quickly.

Fortunately, Roland had anticipated this problem and prepared a portable charging station to counter it. Thanks to his mastery of spatial runes, he had become not only a one-man army but also his own supply line. Soldiers nearby couldn’t help but watch in awe as a large metallic canister materialized, covered in glowing runes. It was followed by several floating drones. Unlike the combat-ready ones that floated around him, these drones carried no weapons or offensive enchantments. Their sole purpose was to deliver replacement mana canisters to the turrets that continued firing at the oncoming monsters.

One of the floating, octagon-shaped drones moved quickly into action. It drifted over to the main mana fluid unit, a large drum filled to the brim with concentrated magical energy. Within city limits, it was simple to power the turrets by connecting them directly to the local grid, allowing for continuous fire without the need for refueling. Out here, however, that wasn’t an option. Roland had to rely either on his runic batteries or, as he had chosen for this mission, smaller canisters filled with mana fluid.

Although the runic batteries were capable, they had a major drawback—they took hours or even days to fully recharge. In a field environment where constructing a generator was impractical, it was far more efficient to use the mana fluid they had harvested from the dungeon. In a poetic twist, he was now fighting the monsters born of the dungeon using its own stolen energy against them.

The drum stood nearly as tall as a man, reinforced with thick plating etched in runes to contain the magical essence sealed within. As the charging process began, a nozzle extended from the drum’s circumference, aligning with a rotating circular bracket that held several empty canisters. Each canister, no larger than a lantern, was crafted from a specialized metallic alloy capable of safely containing condensed magical energy.

Once a canister rotated into position, the nozzle aligned with a designated port on its side. A safety latch secured it in place, and the mana fluid was pumped inside. When the fill was complete, the nozzle retracted and the canister moved to the next phase of the operation: delivery.

One of the stationary floating golems hovered into position. It approached the freshly filled canister, which had been held in place by the latch, and lifted it using a magnetic grip. Secured to the flat underside of the delivery drone, the canister was then flown out toward the cannon golem that had been active the longest.

The golem remained still, focused on its task. A circular hatch on its side opened, and an empty canister ejected, landing gently on the ground. Once it cleared the compartment, another hatch opened to receive the fresh canister. Each golem was equipped with three internal canisters, allowing it to function with at least one still within. With the charging station now in place, Roland ensured that his mobile turrets would never have to stop firing.

The replacement canister slid smoothly into the open chamber, and the golem’s internal systems absorbed the new energy source, returning to full power. Meanwhile, the spent canister was picked up by the delivery drone and returned to the charging station for refueling. Through this well-orchestrated system, Roland could keep his golems fully operational without expending any of his own mana.

‘Somehow we are managing to stick to the schedule.’

Once all the spider golems he could spare were deployed from his spatial storage, Roland ascended back into the sky. His level had risen enough that maintaining this spell came easily. For most mages, hovering like this would quickly drain their mana, but for him, it was little more than a mild inconvenience. From above, he had a clear view of the battlefield as it stretched out in every direction.

By now, all of his golems had positioned themselves along the battlements. The initial wave of monsters had been successfully repelled, but he wasn’t the only one responsible for the turnaround. Armand, Robert, and the Guild Master were doing an excellent job of drawing the monsters’ attention away from the city. Lucille, Lobelia, and Agni supported them from behind with powerful ranged attacks.

Meanwhile, the golem army they had brought from Albrook had secured a foothold at the city gate. Together, they held one side of the city, while Roland’s constructs defended the other. Everything seemed to be running smoothly. But Roland knew better. This wasn’t over.

‘The gamble paid off for now but will it be this easy?’

He hovered silently above the chaos, the faint glow of his armor flickering in the dim light. Below, his drones continued their relentless defense, working in unison with his companions. He spotted Agni unleashing a torrent of fire, his breath attack sweeping through clusters of enemies. The tier-two monsters stood no chance, incinerated in seconds as they bunched together, making themselves easy targets. Fortunately, these creatures lacked any real combat strategy. They charged forward blindly, relying solely on their overwhelming numbers.

But numbers alone were not enough. With so much magic concentrated on the battlefield, it became a blazing inferno of raw mana. Monster after monster was obliterated, vanishing beneath the unrelenting waves of magical firepower before they could even reach the walls. Then it happened.

A sound rolled across the battlefield: low, deep, and thunderous, like the grinding of distant mountains. The moment it reached the city, all cheer vanished. A sudden silence fell over the defenders. Soldiers froze, their eyes wide, weapons half-raised, caught in a moment of paralyzing dread. The cannons continued to fire, their rhythm unchanged. But the sound had already signaled a shift.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

‘Something is approaching… A city-scale monster.’

Roland turned sharply in the air, his senses stretching outward like a net. There it was again. A rumble, deeper this time. The ground shivered in response, and the faintest crack split through the earth beyond the northern ridge. Out past the treeline, the horizon shifted.

Trees were torn from the ground like weeds. Earth buckled and snapped as something enormous pushed its way forward. The first thing visible was its shell — an uneven, moss-covered dome so wide it looked like a moving hill. But it was not the shell that silenced the entire battlefield. It was what rose above it.

A serpent’s head and not just one but three. They stretched skyward, impossibly long and scaled with dark crimson armor that shimmered like wet stone. The mouth was lined with needle-pointed teeth, too many for any natural creature, and its eyes glowed a sickly yellow. One of the necks coiled once in the air, then snapped downward with an audible crack that split several trees into pieces without even touching them.

‘If I’m not mistaken, that thing is a Hydra Tortoise.’