Chapter 50 - Kyros’s Tactics
The golems were marching at a relaxed pace.
On the intersection, the group of Lizardmen and Man-Gators were on their guard.
Despite the darkness, the lizards could see the march of the golems.
"Captain..." One of the Lizardmen went to the Lizard Captain.
"Oh? It seems that the golems killed the boy." The Lizard Captain smirked as he saw Kyros being carried by the Ruby Golem.
"It seems that the boy is not a match to the legendary, Stoph." The Lizard captain laughed as he called out to Stoph in Serpentari.
"Why are you after him?" Stoph asked in the language of the First Word.
"Oh? You noticed? Our master has smelled a strange scent. These new creatures have to whet his appetite. Although we are more curious with that boy in your hands."
"We won't ask for much then. This boy with thirty corpses of lizards." Stoph answered as he held Kyros up, tightly clutching him by the neck.
"Thirty? Don't make me laugh!"
"This boy was quite powerful. It even escaped your grasps. I am sure that they have killed more than this number already."
The Lizard captain was silent.
"Fine. Hand him over to me." The Lizard Captain finally commanded.
Stoph moved forward, and several iron golems followed closely. The rest of the golems slowly followed but maintained some distance. As the golems approached, the Lizard Captain and a few Lizardmen also moved forward to receive Kyros.
As they drew near, Kyros finally acted.
He knew that the golems could see in a different manner. So what he did would not affect them. He withdrew the torch and poured much mana into the torch, causing it to burn brightly.
The sudden flash of light surprised the lizard captain.
Stoph immediately acted as planned. He rushed and delivered a powerful punch the sank into the Lizard Captain's stomach.
Stoph's powerful punch pushed further down and smashed the lizard to the ground.
The Lizard Captain spat out a lot of blood. Two Iron Golems followed what Kyros instructed and held the mouth of the lizard wide open. A few more pinned the Lizard Captain.
After handing the torch to another Iron Golem, Kyros retrieved the Vermillion Earth Sword.
Kyros strode towards the Lizardman, and his anger was immense. He glared at the Lizard captain, who understood what was going to happen to him.
"No! Please! Mercy!" The Lizard Captain hissed.
Kyros held the sword up high and looked the Lizard Captain dead in the eye. The left arm of Kyros that was cut off began to throb in pain as Kyros gazed at the culprit who caused him to cut off his hand. He could vividly remember the arrogant smiled of the Lizard Captain when Kyros was escaping. And Kyros vowed to kill this lizard personally.
"This is for my nipples!" Kyros shouted in Serpentari as he stabbed the Vermillion Earth Sword down the throat of the Lizard.
"Nipples?" A confused Iron Golem repeated in First Word.
"DAMN IT!" Kyros cursed as he could hear Calaminus laugh in the background.
"Man. I wish this would get an anime adaptation! That was gold!" Calaminus laughed.
Kyros ignored the confused Iron Golems, who was now looking at the direction of his nipples and stored the Vermillion Earth Sword and retrieved the Blood Blade. With the Blood Blade in hand, Kyros stabbed down on the opened mouth of the lizard and began to drink the blood of the Lizard Captain.
Kyros also saw his arm and stored it expending mana to bring it into the Temple.
With the blade inside the Lizard Captain, Kyro rushed off to aid in the battle.
He still had to ensure that the Golems would not die per his agreement with the Golem King.
The ambush was a success, and the Golems gained an advantage at first. The lizards were still confused why the Golem broke their code and attacked first. They had always been defending and only would chase and attack for some special circumstances.
Kyros reached the heat of the battle and began to dive in without fear. He pestered the Swamp Man-Gators with his attacks and the Shadow Ghouls he summoned. With the Shadows summoned, the Golems gained even more advantage and was able to bring down the large Aligator-like creatures.
The appearance of the Shadow creatures amazed Stoph.
"You command the darkness?" Stoph was so amazed and asked this question in First Word.
"Yes. Thanks to my erectile dysfunction." Kyros answered in First Word as he pointed to the Sword of Ten Thousand Grudges.
"???" Stoph's face could only be described as 'cuttlefish' because of the great confusion he had from Kyros's statement.
Calaminus was laughing so hard.
"DAMN IT! I ANSWERED IN FIRST WORD UNCONSCIOUSLY!" Kyros cursed as he realized what he just said.
"And here I thought, this old Time God would have that problem. I pity Mechiel..." Calaminus laughed.
"English? You understand English, right?" Kyros ignored Calaminus and asked Stoph.
"Yes," Stoph answered in English.
"It's because of the sword. I can't speak First Word clearly. Ignore my previous words. Now... hear my words and instruct the Golems on my behalf. We have to move fast and coordinated!" Kyros explained.
Kyros relayed simple instructions to get the Golems to reform in a formation and maximize their defenses. As someone who has spent his life on the battlefield and his tremendous wisdom, Kyros began to relay tactical instructions and maximize the battle's efficiency and speed. At any point where the battle line would collapse, he would send his Shadow Familiar and the Shadow Ghouls to pester the enemy.
The Iron Golems moved to the front and became a metal shield for the weaker golems behind. The arrows of the lizardmen could not penetrate the thick armors of the metal men.
Kyros then used his torch trick to darken and brighten the area around them to throw off the aim of the lizardmen. After instructing Stoph to get the blood blade buried deep in the lizard captain, Kyros bit down and drank the blood.
The Blade was then stabbed in a dying Man-Gator as Kyros continued to fight.
He suddenly made a surprise sprint and ran on the wall to evade the line of Man-Gators acting as shields to prevent the Iron Golems from reaching the Lizardmen. With his torch trick and the Dark Armguards that he used to knock off any arrows, Kyros safely passed through the Man-Gators and jumped on the many Lizardmen shooting their arrows.
Kyros began to rampage behind enemy lines with his Vermillion Earth Sword stabbing out.
The chaos he created even caused some of the Lizardmen to shoot an arrow on the Man-Gators.
"The Blood Blade!" Kyros shouted, and Stoph threw the Blood Blade towards him.
Although the throw wasn't accurate, Kyros used the Inventory trick to bring the Blood Blade in his hands, and Kyros drank more of the absorbed blood. Kyros's mana was finally restored to the point that he can cast a certain spell once more.
The Vermillion Earth Sword appeared with a quick switch, and Kyros jumped and stabbed the ground beneath him.
"Earth Cross!" Kyros roared.
BOOM!
The ground beneath them suddenly erupted, causing the defense line to falter.
The Man-Gators lost their balance, and the Golems rushed and attacked the Man-Gators that had stumbled down.
The Lizardmen fell into panic as many of the Golems rushed and attacked them.
"Retreat!" The orders were made as some of the lizardmen ran off. With their captain dead, no one could reform the ranks.
The line of Lizardmen and the few Swamp Man-Gators were now being crowded and pummeled by the golems.
As Stoph saw the line collapse, he was amazed. His king gave the order that no golem should die. Kyros was confident that he could do this. Seeing is believing. Stoph couldn't help but glance at Kyros, who was fighting and finishing off the last Man-Gator and stuck the Blood Blade down its throat.
"Stoph, assign someone to finish up here and follow me with several Iron Golems," Kyros commanded his Shadow familiar to merge with him, and the darkness concentrated on his arm. The decapitated hand was now replaced with a dark hand which Kyros started to control.
Dark Manipulator and Dark Wielder allowed him to reform a physical arm using the darkness. Stoph was shocked at what he saw.
"This boy... is powerful! He will make a necessary ally in the battles to come! I must inform the King!" Stoph decided to give a favorable report. They had lost no golems in the charge, and the boy had mysterious powers that didn't make sense.
With his arms reformed, Kyros took a bow and several quivers of arrows.
"Tell your men not to kill any surviving Lizardmen. Crush their arms, legs, and tail so they can't move and have your men drag them. We're going to use them to kill those Char Vermillion Lizards."
Stoph nodded and gave the orders immediately. The Golems began to look for some of the wounded Lizardmen and began to crush their limbs.
Kyros also urged the Golems to carry some of the sharp weapons nearby to carry out the plan later on.
Without hesitation, Stoph followed even though Golems never really needed sharp weapons to fight.
Kyros did one last check at the lizardmen that they wounded. When Kyros confirmed that they could no longer move, they began to march and dragged the barely alive lizardmen.
"Let's go! I got a dark lizard to catch!" Kyros strode towards the intersection.