Do we have any idea of how our ancestors suffered? How they struggling to survive in a cruel world, where even the simplest Skills were the rarest of blessings? They lived in a reality where terrible creatures roamed freely and every other noble race hold power over our species! Where our enemies watched us, much like they might watch insects: waiting to crush mankind under their heels!

Make no mistake! We were broken and bleeding when the First King returned to give us hope! We live only because he ripped open the Gates of Magic and gave freely those gifts that had long been withheld! The price paid by the blood of our fathers has not been wasted!

So, let us join hands once more! Let us unite, so that we may we face the dark together! For, as the prophecy brings ruin: together we might come upon the end with our eyes open wide, to spit in the eyes of fate! For glory, for conquest, and for our very survival!

Long live the Emperor! Long live the Empire! Long live Humanity!

-Sermon of the Light

Chapter 41

[Snake Report]

Arms, check!

Legs... check!

All systems are holding!

Gorf! Your core is maintaining power! Engineer Golems, keep it up!

Good start team. We managed to get him away from the city. I wasn't sure that tail grab maneuver was going to work out for us, but it looks like we got lucky. Visual confirmation through front-chest window, the dragon has stopped rolling.

I'm calling it as stunned, but not badly hurt.

Gorf, keep steady on approach. We're keeping him away from the city, and we're sure as hell keeping him away from the Dungeon Entrance. No telling what would happen if this guy managed to get to to either of those.

We're looking good.

We've bought some time.

Alright.

Woooo... this is nuts. Totally nuts.

Can't believe I'm finally doing this.

Giant robot... Golem... Fight.

This is like every kid's dream come true, but lacking the plot armor.

I'm like, 100% dead the moment something goes wrong.

God damn.

The early squads softened the target up a bit. We lost a lot of brave Golems out there, but in combination I think they managed to do a little damage. Their efforts were not wasted, and more importantly: they managed to buy time. All of that, combined with what the human defenses just threw at him: this stupid lizard is hurting.

So it's now or never.

I'm going for it.

We got this.

Queue the boss fight music.

Break out every single item stashed away in inventory.

Cheat any and every single way possible. Rig every fucking thing we can: Fair is not how we're playing this.

We're up against a giant dragon that spits lightning. We're cheating the system every single way I know how. I am pulling out every single trick in the book.

There is no way in hell this thing goes down easy.

Hear that team?

History is written by the victors. So, we're sure as hell gonna win this.

One more check.

Golem engineering team, just like we practiced: confirm with hand signals.

Golem 892.

Roger that Golem 892. Check confirmed.

Golem 895?

Roger that Golem 895. Check confirmed.

Looking good.

Excellent.

Golem 893, Golem 894, continue breaking open those crystals at the predetermined pace, but let me know when we hit the final reserves.

Keep that mana airborne.

Ssss...

My mana's draining fast and I can't swallow any more of them mid-combat.

Steady pace on cracking those open. We gotta keep everything topped off: This engine is fuel intensive to say the least, and there's no point in saving them if we all end up dead. Use it all.

My [Mana Resistance] is insanely high. I can take it.

I'm pretty sure.

Pretty sure I can take it.

Magic checks...

Self-analyzing here...

Good. Earth magic and manipulation is holding steady.

[Holy Ground] is also good. It's helping a bit with effectiveness, but this loophole only reaches so far. Seems to be limited to the torso and head from the looks of things.

Engineering team: We're going to need to factor additional mana for the far-reaching of the limbs. Add one more crystal to the rotation for good measure. Each punch we end up throwing is going to cost us, big time.

Ssss...

Main Mana core is stable.

Gorf, good buddy, do you read me? Because you are looking mighty fine.

Additional limb cores seem to be stable.

Excellent.

Upgrades seem to have stuck. We're a freaking tank.

... Holy smokes is this Mana expenditure unreal, though.

Alright.

Gorf, give me a nod. Is the healing communication line getting to you?

... Perfect.

Gotcha, loud and clear.

Keep your balance, and keep in mind: I can't correct a tumble, so if we fall things are going to be bumpy as all heck in here. I'll be holding us in one piece and providing support, but everything else is going to be on you.

No pressure.

You got this. I trust you buddy.

Secondary checks complete! Operation Mega-Golem is still a go!

All systems have the green light! We are clear to engage!

Ssssss...

Oh man, I always wanted to say that.

Proceed for the take down!

Ssss... that line too.

Is this what being a God is?

This feels pretty damn Godly.

We're freaking huge. Small mountain status, achieved.

Scaling up the [Greater Sentient Golem] ability, and then making some major modifications to hold it all together. I'm like a freaking mad-scientist. I had planned things out, but I didn't actually think I would pull it off. Plus, this was a bit of a rush job, considering...

Well, the giant dragon. What else would it be?

The giant dragon, which we're currently charging at, fullspeed, in the hopes of... I don't even know.

Beating it to death?

Punching it until it gives up?

I mean, our options are pretty limited. Based on what I saw the humans throw at it, I can pretty much guarantee that breathing some fire at it isn't going to do anything.

One way or another, we're gonna have to murder that bastard.

Sss...

Man, this has to be the stupidest thing I've ever done.

I'm riding a super-golem into battle.

Gotta be the stupidest.

A mostly untested super-golem, that I patched together in a rush because I lost half my army in all of an hour trying to keep a dragon from clawing its way straight out of the ground.

Considering how big that sucker is, though... I have to guess made its own tunnels and just skipped past the sanctuary.

God damn.

What the hell.

Digging through what must have been several hundred slithers worth of solid freaking bedrock- not counting whatever it must have clawed its way through prior to that, in order to get to the surface layers of the dungeon...

Oh, it looks mad.

It looks really mad.

Just the things you notice when time is slowing down, and you realize you're really in this shit.

It's at least as tall as the city walls. Took a huge beating and already seems to be recovering. Wings are damaged, but everything else looks like its sealing back up.

Some sort of accelerated healing...

Yeah, this is the stupidest thing I've ever done.

100%.

I don't know what the hell else I'm supposed to do here, though.

I've seen the movies.

I barely remember the movies, but I definitely saw them. We're fighting a kaiju-level threat. So that means that, either Godzilla shows up and saves us, or I just go all in and fight it with my own equivilant to a kaiju level threat.

Gorf-zilla.

Ah...

Crap.

I wish I'd had a little more time to test this out.

And, for that matter: I wish the humans didn't suck at everything.

Seriously.

Can't kill one lousy kaiju? Nooooo, they gotta make me do it. At risk of the damn thing burning down a city and becoming completely unstoppable, I'm the one who has to deal with the problem.

Hoooooo...

Fuck it all.

My normal efforts to keep myself from panicking are not working well, and this approach is taking way too long. Each step Gorf is making is covering a ton of ground, but it feels like we're slow compared to the scale I'm used to.

One step... two step... three step...

That's like a quarter mile I'm guessing, which is insanely fast, but it feels slow.

Instinct is going nuts.

Man, instinct is wiggin out.

It's been a long time since something has it set off this bad. The dragon ahead of us is not a joke. This thing could one-hundred percent kill me dead.

I'm just a tiny little blue noodle riding a giant frog, but this thing is a mountain.

A lightning-spewing mountain.

Sssss...

That is a big freaking dragon.

A big, pissed-off, dragon.

We're almost in range.

Deep breathes.

Stay calm.

We got this.

[Holy Ground] is running through. Spell-casting efficiency is good for a majority of Super-Gorf. I've got a whole team of Golem in here with me, keeping me topped off on mana. Earth Magic is my best.

I am in my element.

We've rigged up every trick in the book. I have survived so much shit, to get to this moment.

Here we go.

Do or die.

Bring it fucking on.

GORF! HIT HIM HARD!

ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAR