A group of golems surrounded the dormitory in a tight circle. The main battle was taking place in front of the main entrance. First-year students tried to resist, but without enough experience, it didn't go well. Only three fighters, who fought in the front lines, inspired them.
"I'm so tired of them," Vivien tried to strike the golems with her halberd, but it didn't work well. She lacked the striking force of the weapon, and her powerful swings were absorbed by the heavy armor. "You are doing much better than me."
Algo, fighting alongside her, dealt more easily with the opponents. Their weapons were made of the same metal, with equal sharpness and strength, but Algo's shorter and heavier sword was better suited for cleaving the golems' armor.
"If this continues, they'll eventually push us back to the defense inside the building, and then they can simply demolish the walls."
Other students stood closer to the entrance, finishing off the golems that managed to break through the two fighters. They were led by Werner, who had no equal in defense. The beginning of the battle showed that only the weapons of this trio could effectively pierce the living armors. The regular iron weapons of the first-year students broke after a couple of precise strikes, and the supplies in the dormitory's storeroom were not endless.
"If only I could help somehow..." Leira stood behind the warriors, using her magic to shield them from the arrow-shooting golems. Like on the square, the magicians' contribution was of little use.
Meanwhile, larger golems, five meters tall, approached the dormitory.
"I have an idea," Vivien turned to her companion. "Algo, hold them for a minute."
"Hey!" Algo didn't have time to object before the spearwoman rushed into the deep rear.
"Liri, remember how it can absorb magic?" Vivien handed her spear to the sorceress. "I want to test if they can disperse all types of magic."
"Hmm, better than sitting idle in the rear," Leira directed lightning magic into the blade, and tiny symbols on the hilt began to glow with a golden light. "I'll try to be quick."
While she worried about her boyfriend, who was fending off attacks alone, the last symbol lit up, and the spearwoman joined the battle.
"Release!" The key phrase shaped the energy accumulated in the blade. The wide blade of the naginata glowed with golden light and electric sparks. "Duck!"
Algo barely managed to dodge before the warrior sliced four golems with a single circular strike.
"Nice work," Algo quickly finished off the fallen golems before they could recover.
"Agreed," the girl looked at her weapon. "But the magic depletes too quickly."
At that moment, a five-meter golem suddenly appeared in front of her, surprisingly fast for its size.
"When did it get here?" Algo leaped and aimed a strike at the golem's chest, but it easily blocked his sword and sent the warrior flying. The golem was now focused on the spearwoman, whose movements were still sluggish after using lightning magic.
"I can't dodge in time," the girl leaned back, planting her spear into the ground, but another attack stopped the golem. A lightning discharge pushed it back, shattering a part of the breastplate. "What is this?"
"Thanks for the idea, sis. But I'd better use Liri's help, and you don't get distracted from the battle," Miriam took another arrow charged with magic from Leira and released it towards the second large golem. However, the arrow almost disintegrated before reaching the target, colliding with the golem's breastplate. "Tch, it seems regular arrows won't do."
Next to the archer were several quivers with arrows, but only two were filled with special arrows with mithril and adamantite tips.
"It seems I can only help you in dire situations; regular arrows won't withstand lightning magic, and too weak a charge won't harm them."
"Well, that should be enough," Vivien said, but then she turned to the golem that was defeated earlier, where the arrow had knocked off a significant part of the breastplate. "There's something here."
The spearwoman struck the center of the gaping hole and pulled out an uneven dark-purple sphere on the tip of her spear. The cracked crystal quickly crumbled, and along with it, the living armors lost their power.
"Heh, so this is their secret. Algo, these creatures have magical stones in their chests, probably their... hearts, most likely,"
"Understood." The swordsman was currently fending off another five-meter golem. While they were dealing with the larger golems, the smaller ones switched their attention to the students defending the doors. "We need to finish this quickly."
The swordsman focused on his blade, concealing the magic of air within it. In an instant, his body filled with lightness, and he made a single leap to reach the golem's chest. Algo struck at the center of the breastplate, where the magical core presumably resided, and released a portion of the magic from his blade. The wind blade sliced through the crystal, and the golem began to collapse onto the ground. However, before the swordsman could free himself, something unexpected happened.
The crystal exploded, releasing the remaining magic within it. The explosion threw the golem's breastplate, along with Algo, several meters back.
"What was that? They didn't use to break like that," the swordsman checked his sword, but there were no critical damages. "I don't like all of this."
Algo returned to the dormitory, and the golem he defeated remained in ruins for a short while. The exploded core started to regenerate, gathering fragments from other golems, and the giant golem took form once more, now even larger than before.
Among the students defending the entrance, there was a notable group of earth mages led by their teacher, Levris. She skillfully organized the defense. The students erected walls in the path of the golems and toppled them into hastily dug pits. Their antimagic barriers prevented regular mages from finishing off the golems, but by trapping them in the pits, the students gave Levris time to crush them with larger boulders. Sometimes, the earth mages were lucky, and the boulders managed to crush the golems' hearts, but more often, it simply held them back, allowing the warriors to finish them off.
"I thought there were only a few hundred of them here, but we've already killed many more, and their numbers aren't decreasing," Levris breathed heavily, her prolonged use of various magic exhausting her.
"The situation in the center isn't any better," finally, the long-awaited reinforcement landed nearby. The black dragoness had come for her comrades. "The Headmaster is gathering all the students on the square. He plans to build some kind of defense. But it's unlikely that it will help us escape from the Academy."
"Ragni, thank the gods you're here. Does your strength at least not weaken their protection?"
"Not significantly. If I don't let their attacks through, I can crush them to my heart's content. But I'd better not transform into a dragon. Asarina tried to escape that way, but their archers quickly shot down her wings. She won't be able to fly for a while. It seems their magical arrows can penetrate even my scales if they hit too often."
"Are many students still not inside the shelter?"
"Those who were in the main building are gathering under the protective barrier near the Headmaster. Of those who were far from the main buildings during the attack, few survived. Some students died in the Inquisition camp, where the first attack had to be repelled."
"They were all young students; they didn't even have a chance to defend themselves."
"Yes, the death toll is already in the hundreds... and Kurone is leading these creatures."
"What? But she was in the Inquisition's prison."
"Something happened to her there, and she's no longer our sweet sorceress. Someone is controlling her mind, although I won't say she has completely lost control. In any case, we won't be able to find out anything until these golems let us get to her."
"Then maybe it's better to break through to her?"
"Unlikely to be that simple," Ragni nodded towards the eight-meter giant standing behind the smaller golems. "This one has only been demolishing buildings so far, and it's unknown what will happen when it joins the battle. For now, it's better for us to hold the defense together. If their numbers decrease, then we can take some action."
"Then we'll have to break through. Can you handle it?"
"I'll clear their ranks, but there won't be time for second thoughts. It's just over five hundred meters to the square, but there are many more golems there."
"We'll try to create a defensive wall with stones on the sides and attempt to break through this corridor."
"Then let's get started."
The dragoness rushed into battle, grabbing two smaller golems and hurling them at the ones standing behind. Knocking down the first row, Ragni turned her attention back and began finishing off the fallen golems. She dealt with the smaller ones easily, but the five-meter ones made her exert more effort.
"How much I dislike all of this," Algo covered the rear, holding back his comrades' breakthrough. "The smaller ones are almost gone, but there are many more larger golems."
Now the swordsman tried to keep his distance from the golems. After the first incident, he encountered golems three times that exploded after the core was destroyed. He tried not to use magic and not to destroy the magical stones when he pulled them out. But it didn't affect the fact that some golems exploded and then, after some time, began to reassemble into larger machines.
"They must have something that unites them," Algo was currently holding off two five-meter golems while Vivien fought on the other side. Surprisingly, they were fast despite their size and were no less formidable than their smaller counterparts. "They are persistent."
The swordsman jumped up and, pushing off one golem, knocked off the helmet of the second. While the latter was recovering, he jumped from it to the first golem and cleaved the breastplate with his sword. The crystal crumbled, and this time there was no explosion.
"Lucky."
Algo gained some experience in fighting such an opponent, but the golems also learned from their enemies' behavior. Before he landed, the second golem struck him in the back. Usually, they didn't attack until they fully restored their bodies, but this one deliberately pretended to stop and even sacrificed its comrade.
"Smart, but not enough," Algo touched his bruised shoulder; it seemed the golem hit him not only with its fist but also with the blade attached to its wrist. The wound was not deep, but the swordsman could feel his strength waning from the bleeding. "I need to finish this with you quickly."
He gathered his strength for one strike, dodged the golem's second attack, and pierced its breastplate with his sword. This time, no miracle happened, and a deafening explosion threw him back towards a group of students he was protecting.
"Algo!" Liri rushed to help, catching the swordsman before he fell. "Are you badly wounded?"
"Not too much, just a bit tired," Algo tried to stand up, but his legs didn't obey him, and he had to lean on his sword.
"Maybe someone can help?"
"Yes," among the students was Feris, who inherited some healing skills from the Headmaster, although she was far from his level. Still, she helped treat the wounds of those who got injured while fighting the golems. "Let me at least close the wound on your shoulder."
"I'm fine, just need to rest for a bit, and I'll get back into the fight. Vivien will have a hard time handling them alone."
"Your wound is more serious than you think," the healer put her hands on the cut, and it began to slowly close with a golden glow. "Other students have the same problem. The wounds are not deep, and they even lost less blood than they should have, but they are significantly weakened by these injuries, as if they were under some kind of curse."
"A curse?" Algo looked at the remains of the golems he had just destroyed. They had already started to slowly regenerate, and the remnants of the second golem were being collected first, with dried blood still visible on its blade. "Golems are created using demon magic, right? Could they be enchanted to weaken those they wound?"
"I thought about it, but if it were a regular curse, I could remove it. But there are no traces of such a powerful spell on the wounded, yet they are weakened. However, I noticed the weakening effect."
"Only those who had their weapons already in blood exploded... And they gather using parts from other golems. Is there any magic that can absorb the magical power of other mages?"
"Yes, there is. Their shields are based on this principle; they absorb magic, making our attacks so weak that they don't harm them."
"Magic or spiritual power, it's all parts of a person's soul," Algo tried to stand up again, but his strength hadn't returned yet. "It seems they not only absorb the power of spells but also the souls of those they wound. That's why they become weak, and that's why only the golems with bloodied blades regenerate. They need energy to transform into larger golems, and they take it from their victims."
Algo looked at the path that remained to the square; besides the small golems, there were also two eight-meter giants blocking the way.
"Stop, Ragni! The bigger they are, the more magic they have. She shouldn't get close to them!" The swordsman wanted to rush to help himself, but he was still too weak.
"I'll help her, and you rest," Leira reassured Algo and headed to the frontline.
"No, Liri, kh..."
"If you're so eager for battle, let me heal you first."
"She won't be able to help her."