Chapter 1016. Like a swarm of locusts

---Minas Mar, 5 days later---

Seth was looking at the assembled golem they had finished over the past two weeks. The number was impressive, but their presence was a little underwhelming because of their mostly mismatched-looking gear.

Apart from the ones that happened to wear actual armor sets, the crowd resembled the result of a child who got a bunch of action figures and started disassembling and reassembling them, but with the wrong parts. The blacksmith could only hope this would improve once they started unearthing the treasures of Y-City.

On the other hand, the over 3200 golems made from hobgoblins and orcs around lv.60 were looking much more uniform, with their skin of<Stainless Steel> scales. It was a shame that their looks did not translate to their strength. Since they had no actual gear at all, they were not much better than naked corpse golems with a high defense.

Lastly, at their front stood 82 golems in pristine Oathguard Armor. Seth had originally wanted to finish up within two weeks after the announcement of the Pythian Games, but he had taken slightly longer because he wanted to finish these guys properly.

They were the golems made of various bosses, mini-bosses, and elites that had dropped the 80 big and 2 massive souls during his trip to the Holy Land. The weakest of them had been lv.81 when they were alive.

Although Seth abstained from turning them into Faer, he turned them into proper golem knights. Forging their souls into shape and connecting them with the armor had taken a little longer than he had planned, making him 3 days overdue for them.

Despite already staying longer than expected, Seth was a little bummed that he would not see Mike for a little longer. Mike had already informed them, that he couldn't use home call, or his quest would fail. The beastman's hopes were also dashed upon his arrival at Thres, as Maahes also didn't allow him to use regular teleportation to return.

Since Seth decided to personally accompany the golems on their punitive expedition to Y-City they decided to connect the two objectives. Mike would make his way from Thres to Tree Station 12 at the borders of Minas Mar and meet Seth there. Since the spirit blacksmith had a mobile forge, he was able to work wherever.

That said, Seth was ready to set off. He had spent some time getting his inventory in order, leaving boxes of materials in the storage. The crates of gear that used to muddle his inventory had long been taken care of since they had to arm and ready the new golems.

His inventory was empty apart from the necessities one always needed such as stacks of potions for healing, mana, stamina, and some buffs, fresh Rations prepared by Link, and adventure gear like ropes, tents, a relic-rated pickaxe....And of course, his battle gear was pristine.nove(l)bi(n.)com

"Anyway, let's talk about nicer things..." he quickly changed the subject.

After getting a briefing on the overall situation, Baker began talking about what Seth was actually interested in. The former facilities were where the craftsmen under Baker used to work and where they usually stored most of their products.

He also shared the various dungeon locations and the monster territories his scouts were able to find out. Most importantly, Lezzekai, the massive field boss had returned back to slumber. However, after Seth had accidentally awakened it during the battle with the Scene, the amount of irregular monsters in Y-City had increased. Another reason their defenses fell so quickly.

Together they came up with a progress plan to raid the cityscape step by step, aiming for the former player association that Mark Baker used to lead. Since Mark was prepared, Seth was quickly ready to set off and release the golem into the ruined district.

"Are you really going right away?" Baker asked the blacksmith.

"Are you worried?" he asked amused.

Seth couldn't help but grin. He could have left this task to someone else. He could have made a trip to Thres to get Mike's materials and stay at Minas Mar to make his gear. But he was here. There were two reasons.

"I just teleported here and we just talked everything through. There is no need to waste any more time."

The first was that they were pressed for time, the stronger and better equipped this army got, the better it was for the future. The other reason was that Seth had decided to become a little more proactive, which meant that he stepped out into the field.

And if he was completely honest, he wanted to be there to see it, when his golems started flooding Y-City like a swarm of locusts. The sight was-

Hilarious.