The army of golems began to press the group of students. The Inquisition camp, located to the south, was destroyed along with all its inhabitants, and the golems, who had wreaked havoc there, emerged from the flames, blocking any retreat. The chain of golems formed a line in the field to the north, cutting down anyone attempting to break through them.
The largest golems attacked the Academy building and dormitory, driving all the students who hadn't arrived at the Academy in time to the central square.
Hundreds of golems gathered behind Kurone, smoothly advancing toward the group of students on the alley, forcing them backward.
"They are gathering us all in one place; we cannot allow this!" Katrina clasped her hands, releasing a lightning bolt towards the advancing foes.
At first, the lightning pushed back the front line, but then it collided with the golems behind, and they continued to advance.
"I'll help," Seleria joined the princess's fierce attack. A fiery whirlwind surrounded the lightning and created another barrier in front of the golems.
"But it seems like they are not affected; it looks like some kind of protection,"
The magic of the two princesses was not enough to defeat the golems. Although their attacks slightly affected the magical shields, unlike Alfred's spell, they didn't even heat the golems' armor.
"And it seems this defense doesn't block your magic; it dissipates it, so you can't accumulate enough charge to blast them," Seleria suggested.
"Then let's try something else," Grain appeared behind the girls, "My magic doesn't work in a direct manner; let's see how they deal with this."
The mage slammed his fists into the ground, and part of the cobblestones flew into the air, forming a brick wall. With a single push, the mage threw it towards the front line of golems. The wall crashed into ten golems at the front, shattering against their sturdy armor. The golems themselves were pushed back, but they weren't destroyed and easily got up after a few seconds.
"Seems like it's not enough... They weaken my magic too," Grain noted.
"What are they doing?" Seleria noticed three golems stepping forward, with tubes instead of blades on their hands. They extended their arms forward, and faint blue flames appeared in the openings on their wrists.
"These... are magical arrows!" Grain lowered himself to the ground and created a stone barrier in front of the students. In the next moment, magical charges burst out of the golems' hands at high speed. Some hit the wall, tearing pieces out of it, while others pierced it and injured the students standing behind: "Since when do golems know how to use magic?"
Grain tried to maintain what was left of the barrier as the students panicked and fled from the advancing army. However, the arrow-shooting golems did not relent, and their magical arrows continued to tear through the stone wall, approaching the mage who supported it.
Sensing a breach in his defense, one of the sword-wielding golems leaped towards the mage and pierced the wall with a single strike. Its blade sank deep into the mage's shoulder, throwing him backward. Grain attempted to put up another barrier, but his magic wouldn't respond. The golem could not miss such an opportunity and jumped towards the mage again, but was stopped by a powerful blow from above.
"If magic doesn't work, you can always resort to old ways," Hilda shook her axe, clearing it from golem debris, "Strong creatures, but not for me."
Together with Hilda, Asura stepped forward.
"It seems they have steel armor, much thicker than usual. But the bigger problem will be their numbers," the swordswoman's katana slowly covered with sparking frost. "We'll hold them off for a while; help the other students!"
The girl jumped at the arrow-shooting golems and swiftly severed their arms before decapitating them. However, this didn't stop them. The neighboring golems pushed Asura back, and the severed parts started to return to the damaged golems.
"They even regenerate. Persistent ones," Hilda slung her axe over her shoulder. "Except for this one I crushed first, heh."
The princess charged forward and delivered a powerful blow with a spin. The axe shattered several armors, and they scattered into pieces.
"Ho-ho, whatever they are, if you destroy the breastplates, they no longer regenerate,"
"I already figured that out," Asura leaped over the remains of the first line of golems and approached the archers.
With a couple of strikes, she sliced through their breastplates, and they fell to the ground.
"And this is not difficult," the girl jumped at the last archer, but her katana was blocked. The golem raised its arms before the sword could cut through the armor, and the blade couldn't simultaneously cut through both the gloves and the breastplate. "Do these creatures also learn?"
Asura gathered power in her blade, and ice began to cover the golem's body. The cold made the metal brittle, and the blade easily pierced through the armor.
But while she dealt with this golem, its comrades had already surrounded her.
The girl hastily jumped back to where Hilda was being crowded by larger golems.
"Darn it, as soon as I started smashing them, they brought these hefty ones in heavy armor to me, and now they won't let me swing freely,"
"It seems they are not mindless dolls," Asura glanced at the sorceress controlling them. Kurone was now only focused on the two of them, apparently giving direct commands to the golems.
"We won't be able to hold them; we'll have to retreat to the square. I hope the Rector has some backup escape plan,"
The warriors began to retreat towards the square, where the Rector had already started gathering the surviving students. He raised a magical shield, protecting them from the arrow-shooting golems, but the swordsmen had to fend for themselves.
The Rector tried to cover the entire square with his shield, but each strike from the golems broke through his defense. It seemed that they not only repelled spells but could also shatter magical barriers by simply touching them.
"Rector, we'll help you," Katrina and Seleria approached the elderly mage.
"Good, I'll direct your magic; just let it support my spell,"
The Rector directed the princesses' magic, and their shield of light was complemented by shields of lightning and fire. The barriers protected them from shots and debris, but the warrior golems easily breached them, attacking the students. However, now the shield could recover faster and provide more reliable protection.
"Do you have a plan?"
"For now, let's try to protect the students inside our barrier... Then I'll reinforce the defense," the Rector breathed heavily, and the help from the princesses was clearly appreciated.
"What do you mean?"
"Miss Katrina, you seem to forget where we are," the Rector glanced around the square, "there are many secrets here, and perhaps one of them will allow us to find refuge from the enemy. But after that, it will be impenetrable from the outside, so first, we need to gather everyone we can find here."
"Most of the students are in the dormitory. It's not far, but it's surrounded by golems,"
"Vivien and Miriam are there right now," Asura finally reached the square and joined the defense within the barrier, "they can protect the students, but it will be difficult to break through to us."
"Liri and Algo are there as well, but can someone go to help them?"
"I can try," a girl with black wings landed in the square.
"Ragni!"
"Who else were you waiting for? I managed to hide the little ones and came to help you. There's some kind of massacre happening to the north. Students who tried to escape via the northern road fell into a trap, and they slaughtered them all. They didn't have any weapons, and magic didn't help against them. I couldn't do anything,"
"Head to the dormitory, and we'll hold out here. Hopefully, their shield won't work against your transformation,"
"Haha, it will take them a few more centuries to suppress a dragon's power. I'll be back with reinforcements."