"Hillmane household takes the win again, let us give a round of applause for the king candidate! With this, only one match remains! Who will be our next king!"
A large white golem strode back below the arena while the people cheered. This was the semifinals and Zhang Dong's side had managed to clear them with suffering only minimal damage and tear.
The combination of cultivator automaton and the technology of the dwarven race proved quite effective here. The only real problem was the limited time of operation due to Isabella's and Beatrice's involvement.
"How are you two doing?"
"W-we are fine Mr. Leigong."
Answered Beatrice while sweating a bit.
"Yes, just one more match, we can handle it!"
Replied Isabella while also not looking especially rested. The fights started taking longer the more advanced golems they thought and Zhang Dong was also getting the hang of piloting this mech. Due to the long tournament, the two girls that were used as batteries were slowly running out of juice.
"Conserve your power, only the last match remains."
He could only cheer them on and have them drink some mana potions. Those helped slightly but prolonged use had diminishing returns. The mana that people used in this world was connected to the soul and the longer you drained it the harder it was to recover.
Zhang Dong powered down for the time being and returned to his own soul dimension to give the girls more time to rest. While they were doing their breathing exercises outside the golem the earth rumbled above them.
The last pre-final match was taking place above them. On one side was Takeshi and the hero team, on the other some rich dwarven noble. He had seen the golem that the kids were using and it was quite a beast.
It was clear to him that the person that built this was banking on the heroes piloting it. This golem was huge and required people with high mana capacity to boost the mana engines that it was running on. While most golems only had one this possessed multiple. Clearly, they used some secrets to construct it as most golems were stuck with one engine. Adding multiple ones was dangerous and could end in an explosion.
From what he knew the household Takeshi was fighting for was called Runefall. It was the most influential family in this city and even before the heroes arrived they were said to be the favorite.
Zhang Dong even believed that this family had other backup golems depending on the pilots. Probably if they didn't get the operators they wanted they would go with a different design. With the heroes on board, they were in the strongest position to win it all.
"Dang, Is it over already?"
There was a signal that the fight above them was over in an instant. The other house that was qualified towards the semi-finals didn't even last a minute against Takeshi and their golem. Now they would have an hour to rest before the main event took place.
Without much to do, they waited. From the distance, they could hear some kind of large machine lumbering down through the corridor. The tremors that followed the footsteps indicated that this golem was much heavier than the rest.
The hour passed fast and it was finally time for the last bout. Only one side would be walking out victorious. All the families that had failed to achieve victory would be put through hard times. Without the king title the loss of money could not be regained, they would need to tighten their belt as it would take years for them to recover.
This was the same for the Hillmane household, but the old head of the family was already glad that his family reached this point. From his perspective being the runner-up was already an honor. Everyone would know his house name from this moment. Gaining new trade partners would become easy as their name became famous.
"Fellow dwarves, this has been what you have been waiting for. The birth of a new king! Soon we will know who will have the honor of leading our race into the future!"
The announcer started rattling on while one of the gates opened up. A mostly white humanoid golem walked through it, shield in hand.
"Let us welcome the Hillmane household, the dark horse of this king tournament! No one expected them to come this far, can they finish the deal and become immortalized in history? Or will they be a stepping stone for the true victors!"
After Zhang Dong came out on the other side the other slab of rock started sliding down. There stood quite the large metallic contraption. It was barely able to fit through the frame with its multiple legs.
"It's no surprise that House Runefall has made it this far! Their golem innovations have been known throughout the lands by all. Will they be cemented as the greatest golem manufacturers in our dwarven history and take the crown?"
Everyone looked at the marvel of engineering that was before them. This golem's bottom part looked like a spider. The many legs were a must to support this machine's large frame. It looked a bit similar to an Arachne-type monster that was wearing heavy dwarven armor.
The spider-like legs connected to a large abdomen on which some cannons were placed. Then it all stretched into a bulky humanoid torso that also had two sets of arms. This thing dwarfed Zhang Dong's mecha more than a head's length in height and was several times longer as well.
If you looked from the outside there was no possible way for the Hillmane house to win. Their golem looked to be very lightweight and built for mobility. It didn't look that it would be able to produce enough power to damage it in the first place. That is if it didn't have a certain cultivator piloting it.
"Well then, let the finals begin, only one champion can remain!"
The start gong sounded and the crowd cheered.
"Go Hillmane, show those pompous Runefall fools that money isn't everything!"
"Yeah, go Hillmane!"
To Zhang Dong's surprise, his side had garnered praise from most of the dwarves. They seemed to prefer the smaller Hillmane faction over the other to win. It was a classical David vs Goliath scenario, though he wasn't sure if he would be considered David as he had far more up his sleeve than these people realized.
'I should probably end this fast…'
He could tell that his two partners wouldn't last through a prolonged battle. It wouldn't be hard to slowly grind away on this monstrous golem. He had seen it fight and it was rather slow, most of its wins were due to how the other golems were designed.
The dwarves by nature build slow and lumbering creations. Speed was never their forte and it seemed that they fully abandoned that notion. They invested everything in power and defense. He could see a fast machine with ranged potential being able to destroy this thing in a prolonged fight.
The biggest obstacle with that plan was the limited battle area, there were no places to hide or take cover. The golems had to directly clash with each other, thus the bulkier ones came out victorious. The only one that was going against the grain was him.
Finally, the battle started off with a bang. The cannons that were on the large golem started firing while Zhang Dong dodged to the side. His shield was used this time around, it was glowing slightly and producing a thin layer of mana that didn't let the large bullets through.
This was Takeshi's tactic in the other fights. Spam massive amounts of bullets at his target while slowly advancing forward. He was clearly forcing a win without caring about damaging the mech in the process.
The problem was his opponent that was able to dance around the massive golem without suffering any damage. If Zhang Dong had enough energy to burn through he would have preferred to wait out till his opponent was out of ammo. Alas, he needed to charge in as he had limited time. The golem with the many mana engines would surely outlast him and the girls in a battle of attrition so he needed to strike.
Thus he used his advantage, which was his mobility. The body of the white golem started glowing in blue light. Following this light was an increase in speed which Zhang Dong used to close the gap between him and the golem.
This time he utilizes his entire kit, the sword was pulled out and activated. The energy beam sprung into life and made quick work of one of the spider legs while Zhang Dong quickly backed off. The spot that he previously occupied became riddled with holes.
He didn't stop at only this one leg though, he mercilessly continued to attack. Slicing each leg off while evading all the enemy attacks that came his way. The crowd cheered as they were surprised by the speed advantage that the white golem had. It was as if the defensive capabilities didn't matter at all. A speed and attack-focused golem was clearly a valid option if you wanted to go with a cheaper variant.
Due to the large golem's limited mobility it suffered. Soon it was left on three legs that couldn't support the increased weight of that abdomen. The cannons kept firing and Zhang Dong had to even evade a spider leg being thrown his way by one of those large golem arms.
It was clear that Takeshi wasn't used to tactics like this. He mostly overpowered his opponents with sheer strength but Zhang Dong had used a simple tactic to get under his skin. This was done at a cost, he could already tell that Beatrice and Isabella were running on fumes.
'It was all for this moment, time to ignite the engine and finish this.'
He did this all so that his enemy would be unable to evade his last-ditch attack. He tossed his shield towards his enemy while grasping the light sword with both hands. While Takeshi focused on the incoming bulky projectile he charged forward.
The white body began to glow in gold color. With the boost of his holy element, the golem looked as if it was made from pure gold. Arcs of lightning traveled towards the energy sword and caused it to become longer and wider while also causing it to produce more light.
Everyone was blinded in an instant, right after Takeshi's golem batted the incoming shield to the side his vision became blurry. He could see his opponent coming and quickly reacted by swinging his own weapons forward. The large golem has swords in each of its hands, now was finally the time for Takeshi to use them.
It happened in an instant, it was as if time had stopped for everyone. Zhang Dong's mech appeared on the other side of the arena with a missing head while kneeling down. While the large golem on the other side seemed to be undamaged.
Before the people could gasp and before the cannons could shoot at the damaged white golem a strange sound was heard. It was as if two plates of metal were rubbing against each other.
"Look!"
The golem that Takeshi and the heroes were in began to split apart as it was cleaved by Zhang Dong's laser sword. It was perfectly sliced into two halves that slowly parted to the sides revealing the bewildered pilots inside that were now able to see the outside world.
No one was injured as Zhang Dong was sure not to aim for any living beings inside the machine. The fight was over and the headless golem stood up again, its fist raised high while the crowd clapped and cheered for the winner and birth of the new king.