[Iteration[1] ordered the production of [Combat golems] as soon as they were lost, it even went as far as to order 50 more [Combat golems] filling out what space it had left.
The [Goblins] were killing its [Combat golems] through unknown means, the [Goblin] responsible didn't seem to be able to disconnect it from more than five at a time though and it took longer and longer for it to do so, suggesting the attack it was using took a lot from it.
That wasn't the only problem, though, [Iteration[1] realized that even if it took care of the [Goblin] responsible for such a strange attack there was still the fire-throwing [Goblin] and the projectile-throwing [Goblin].
As time went on things only got more interesting to [Iteration[1], a new type of goblin had made itself known to it, [Iteration[1] called these [Goblins] strong ones.
These goblins only came out a certain time, during this time, the fire-throwing [Goblin] and the projectile-throwing [Goblin] stopped attacking its [Combat golems] while the strong ones fought. And the [goblin] responsible for cutting its mana strings stopped attacking too.
[Iteration[1] wondered why they were doing this, perhaps they were preparing something? [Iteration[1] found this unlikely as it didn't sense any fluctuations in its ambient [automation mana].
The battle continued for an untold amount of time, during this time, [Iteration[1] observed and adapted to the tactics of the [Goblins] learning a great deal about their fighting style and their means of attacking.
The [Goblins] it was fighting had two phases, attack, and recover, when they were in the attack phase the fire-throwing [Goblin] and the projectile-throwing [Goblin] would attack its [Combat golem] indiscriminately.
The [Goblin] responsible for cutting the mana strings connecting it to the [Combat golems] would be at the absolute back, sending out waves of strange mana that disrupted the [automation mana] inside the [Combat golems].
This mildly irritated [Iteration[1] and it would try to get rid of the [Disrupting Goblin] as it now called the annoying goblin but every time things got too much the [Stronge Goblins] would advance forward and fight off [Combat golems] buying time for the other [Goblins] to recover.
[Iteration[1] thought this was going to go on forever but that wasn't so, the [Goblins] started making mistakes halfway through the fight, these were very small and unnoticeable at first but they became more apparent to [Iteration[1] as time went on.
Using this, it managed to push them back to the entrance of the tunnel, completely undoing all the progress they made since the fight began.
Eventually, it stopped losing its [Combat golems], the [Goblins] moved slower as time went on, [Iteration[1] wondered why would they do such a thing, it seemed quite stupid but it wasn't going to complain, it guessed it had to do with them reaching their absolute limits.
[Iteration[1] also realized that it was better to make the [Combat golems] use their hands and swing at the enemy, rather than just ordering them to run into the [Goblins]. Its [Combat golems] could move quite fast too, [Iteration[1] used this to its advantage. Now it was only waiting for an opportunity, an opening big enough for it to exploit.
Eventually, that opportunity came, a [Goblin], too exhausted and hurt, staggered out of the formation chaotically, knocking over three other [goblins] in the process, [Iteration[1] had the nearest [Combat golem] rush over instantly.
Within a second, the [Combat golem] reached its destination and seized the exhausted lone [Goblin] crushing it in its powerful grasp. [Iteration[1] felt elation flow through it, after so long it had finally taken down one of the pesky [Goblins] it felt good, what was even better was the rush of memories from the crushed [Goblin]'s soul.
[Iteration[1] learned a lot about the [Goblin], from its name, Ku'ka, to what it was, [Gog tamer]. [Iteration[1] didn't know what that meant so it searched the [Gog tamer]'s memories and was utterly fascinated by what it uncovered.
Apparently, [Gogs] were small boar-like creatures covered in shimmering blue metal, the goblins called this metal [Night iron] when processed as it got extremely dark and had mana-absorbing properties, it was also extremely durable.
[Iteration[1] felt like this metal would suit it greatly, the only problem was that it was very hard to harvest and the only source of it was the [Gogs] and they were notoriously strong and hard to tame. [Iteration[1] wasn't about to let that stop it though, it had to get its hands on some, no matter what.
[Iteration[1] wasn't the only one who felt this way either, [Iteration[2] also agreed with it, further improving the value of these [Gogs] and their [Night iron].
[Iteration[1] was pulled out from the memories of the [Gog tamer] when it suddenly felt the connection to ten of its [Combat golems] snap, [Iteration[1] cursed itself for its own stupidity, it hadn't been paying attention to what was going on and now it had paid the price.
The [Goblins] had once again advanced, pushing forward with seemingly unstoppable momentum, [Iteration[1] was bewildered, where had this come from? This sudden strength seemed to come out of nowhere, causing it to panic as it rapidly sent commands to its [Combat golems] further worsening the situation.
[Iteration[1] watched as the [Goblins] capitalized on its panic, cutting down the [Combat golems] it sent at them. [Iteration[1] realized that if something didn't change soon, they would breach into its newly built room. [Iteration[1] didn't want that, it knew the [Goblins] would steal everything and anything they could carry from there.
That would also mean that its production of [Golems] would stop, leaving both it and [Iteration[2] utterly defenseless and at the mercy of the greedy [Goblins].
In a last-ditch effort to save itself, [Iteration[1] spent its entire pool of [automation mana] sending a point into each [Combat golem] hoping to empower at least 30 of them. [Iteration[1] didn't expect anything to happen but was left dumbfounded as its [Combat golems] began to blaze with power and [automation mana].