"You guys stay right here and don't move. I'm going to go bolster our forces."
Zenith's Sophisticated Backpack had already been upgraded to the Netherite tier. After spending 72 Netherite blocks, he had installed another Ω-tier stacking upgrade.
The Netherite backpack had 120 slots, and this upgrade template allowed the stacking limit of a single slot to reach a terrifying 2.1 billion.
It was expensive, but also completely broken. Zenith usually didn't stack too many items in one slot; after all, if he ever actually died and dropped his loot everywhere, picking it all up would be a massive pain.
Building a portal on the spot, Zenith ducked inside, looted a chest full of iron blocks and carved pumpkins, and quickly ran back.
Watching Zenith conjure an enchanted pickaxe glowing with purple light and break the portal frame blocks one by one, the others were completely baffled.
It looked pretty magical, but what did this have to do with bolstering their forces?
Zenith didn't bother explaining. He switched his hotbar to the iron blocks and started rapidly placing T-shapes on the ground. He had grabbed about 54 stacks of iron blocks, which calculated out to be enough to summon 864 Iron Golems.
These Iron Golems were pretty dumb and sluggish in the Overworld, but in other places, they could understand simple commands. For example, advancing in a certain direction or locking onto a specific target as an enemy.
He had tested this back in the JoJo universe. The Iron Bros were incredibly useful—big, strong, and gave an unparalleled sense of security.
Orcini couldn't resist reaching out to knock on the iron blocks Zenith had placed on the ground. They were standard one-meter cubed blocks, giving off a cold, metallic touch.
*'Iron! What an exaggerated amount!'* Orcini was shocked. Full-metal armor was a rare commodity in any medieval setting, regardless of whether magic existed or not.
If basic productivity couldn't be improved, mineral output naturally wouldn't be high either. Magic was useless in this regard; esteemed noble mages certainly wouldn't suffer down in the mines to dig up rocks themselves.
He made a rough visual estimate. If this entire patch was made of solid refined iron, it could arm hundreds of thousands of full-plate soldiers!
Orcini's mouth twitched. He suddenly had a pretty good idea of how Zenith had earned his title of Earl.
As Zenith placed the carved pumpkins one by one in the center of the T-shapes, the iron blocks instantly transformed into blocky, red-eyed Iron Golems.
Before Zenith could even react, the closest Iron Bros shifted their thirty-plus-ton bodies and charged straight at Orcini.
"Holy shit, my Berserkers!!"
He had completely forgotten about this—Iron Golems would actively attack any entity wearing the Ring of the Seven Curses!
Urgently adding Orcini to the Iron Golems' target whitelist, Zenith quickly fed him a Potion of Healing.
Luckily, not many Iron Golems had swarmed him, and he was sent flying after only taking a few hits. Zenith could see that this bro's health bar was down to just one and a half red hearts; another scrape from an Iron Golem would have probably killed him on the spot.
"This was totally an accident! Orcini, listen to me explain!!"
But Orcini just wanted to lie on the ground and quietly stare at the sky. This was the second time. It was already the second time. Why had his life become so weird ever since he met these two?!
The raw power of the Iron Golems was immense. Relying solely on their robust bodies, they could easily tank conventional magic attacks.
In terms of individual strength, an Iron Golem definitely wasn't a match for a peak human warrior like the South Hero. But ten Iron Bros ganging up on a demon general could absolutely beat the living shit out of them.
"Alright, snap out of it, Sir Orcini." The South Hero helped Orcini up. "It looks like our battle will be very easy this time."
The Iron Golem army set off. With over eight hundred of these war machines, Helmut City would become an impenetrable line of defense for the human faction.
The earth trembled. This was a far more exaggerated spectacle than thousands of horses galloping in unison.
Magnitude three—no, magnitude four! A distinct tremor akin to a magnitude four earthquake could be felt within a five-kilometer radius!
The Iron Golems' marching speed wasn't fast. Their massive deadweight slowed them down, and even with the buff of a Potion of Swiftness, they couldn't move much faster.
Therefore, Zenith and the others chose to strike first, intercepting the demon scouts who came to investigate the commotion.
As for magical concealment, Zenith looked at the accompanying mage. "Can you temporarily hide the tracks of these big guys so the demons don't spot them?"
"=_="
"Alright, say no more. Since we can't beat them in a head-on clash anyway, there's no need to play the sneak attack game. We just rush them!"
For them, a distance of a few kilometers was barely further than going downstairs to the convenience store to buy a bottle of soy sauce.
The defending soldiers were already showing signs of defeat. In terms of individual combat prowess, very few ordinary soldiers could defeat a demon in a one-on-one duel.
Demons possessed a completely different physical anatomy from humans. Their combat skills, honed over decades or even centuries, were not something short-lived humans could easily match.
Unless that person was a genius.
"Shrink the defense line! Everyone, retreat inside the grand barrier to rest and regroup!"
The commander's orders echoed across the battlefield. They couldn't win, so they could only rely on the grand barrier and turtle up in defense. Rather than pointlessly wasting lives and combat strength on the battlefield now, it was better to rest up properly and fight a desperate, all-out battle once the barrier shattered.
The soldiers began to retreat in an orderly fashion. Having survived so many rounds of death matches, the recruits who feared the battlefield had long since been reduced to corpses. Those who could still fight were all elites, and with their backs against the city walls, there was no chance of a direct rout.
"This city cannot be held. The Eisenhem family will perish along with it."
The elderly Lord leaned his hands against the city wall, looking down at the meat grinder of a battlefield, and let out a heavy sigh.
His eldest son had just retreated from the front lines, completely ignoring a bleeding gash that had cleaved through his armor, stretching almost from his left shoulder to his right rib.
"Father, Orcini will survive. He will reclaim the city bearing the glory of the Eisenhem family, and then erect our statues in the central square."
The old Lord revealed a faint, almost imperceptible smile. Orcini's squad was the seed. Even if they fell here today, they would eventually grow into towering trees.
They seemed to already see the unique flag of the Eisenhem family fluttering in the sky, reflecting a beautiful future for Helmut City.
...
Wait, that flag was actually flying in the sky!! The old Lord's eyes suddenly widened.
"Hey, hey, hey! I'm fucking here!!"
Zenith smashed straight down from mid-air, stomping a demon's head right into its chest cavity on the spot.
The South Hero and Orcini landed nimbly, and the three-man squad began their slaughter of the demons!
These were undeniable demons, so the South Hero showed absolutely no mercy as he hacked away. With his dual swords swinging continuously, he even had time to julienne a demon into a perfect spiral cut.
Orcini didn't use a sword. Under the effects of the Seven Curses, using conventional weapons would only deal half damage, unless he used the exclusive weapon of the Seven Curses.
The Inverted Revelation!
It was a grimoire recording the Seven Curses and blasphemous words. It was unreadable and incomprehensible, but relying on its rock-hard spine, it could deal higher physical damage than a Netherite sword.
And so, the old Lord witnessed the sight of his second son holding a shield in one hand while frantically smashing people's heads in with a grimoire in the other.
...Orcini, what are you doing, Orcini!!!
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