Groork-Torg is not a simple golem.

It’s a metal golem.

Certainly, only a copper golem, but it makes the difference when you compare with earth golems, mud golems, or even rock golems.

A metal golem is a creature with an excellent defence, but a low resistance.

It’s a non-living creature, like undead.

A little bit like a robot, actually.

Each part of the body is autonomous, but they submit freely to the core orders, which makes that 14 parts can obey to only one of them.

As there exists different golem size, and for each size, the possibility for different golems to put themselves together, they can form one a the size above.

Groork-Torg is about 3 metres tall.

It’s as if there were more than 200 golems of 30 cm that agree together to obey to the one concentrating the energy.

Groork-Torg was born after the depart of humans from the mine, but many parts of its body keep memories of the period when they were small copper golems walking freely in the mine, avoiding being caught by humans.

Some of them even went out of the mine, and obtained a little fight experience, but usually, monsters don’t attack each other if it’s not about food.

Groork-Torg worked much in gathering big quantities of copper in the end of its corridor, so the wall is green.

Green of golems.

An army of 1 m golems, that is not yet awoken.

Only Groork-Torg woke up.

Because of pickaxe hits.

Damn humans!

***

Golems don’t understand human language.

Three humans, for flesh beings.

A dog barks, but soon, receiving orders from the oldest of them, it goes up to the surface.

One less opponent.

The big golem jumps on the oldest man, fists first.

Dodge.

Fire punch.

What is a human punch to a golem?

An insignificant flick.

And a fire attack?

A little bit of hot air.

The two youngsters seem flabbergasted to see me.

First, taking care of the one who seem the most dangerous.

Forward roll.

Dodge.

Fire punch.

Golem punch.

Dodge.

This piece of flesh and bone is a true eel.

What is the use of moving one’s ton, if it can’t touch the target?

Golems are huge tanks, really favoured in large scale battle, castle capture or defence, and to protect some private properties.

Fire ball.

The attack comes from the small boy, rickety next to his healthy neighbour.

They dropped their pickaxe, and look like two lousy, really dirty, weaponless.

But the one who looks to be the weakest knows how to use magic?

Forward roll.

The distance separating the golem and the two youngsters gets ridiculous, when they jump to the side avoiding being rolled over.

Fire ball.

The hit comes from the old man.

That’s it, there are several magicians.

Call of brothers.

Golems come from the wall.

5 medium size, around twenty small size.

Humans are surrounded, it will be possible to give them a good punch and get rid of them.

***

Avoiding the big golem, puny humans face the other golems and have to deal with the shocks.

Hits shower from everywhere, on both sides.

Small golems are quickly knocked out, because of magic.

Of course, fire magic is not very efficient against golems, but the copper melts around 1,100°C, and fire attacks are around this temperature.

Even if the weakest don’t go much further 700°C, like the young human ones, the old man achieve easily 1.500°C, even in his punches.

Small golems are knocked out in just one punch, medium size have at least 2 or 3 parts of them knocked out after just one attack.

Call of brother.

A second wave of golems comes from the wall, with a strategy a little bit different from the previous one.

From everywhere, golems roll in a ball to the humans, trying to hurt them as fast as possible.

But those puny and delicate creatures are just too nimble!

And golems finish getting hit by attacks nonetheless.

Even if they deal less damage as golems are moving, because the fire doesn’t have time to soften the copper forming the golems, the core is reached anyway.

Dance with the humans.

Desperately, Groork-Torg see only one thing to do.

Call of brothers.

Golems begin to come out of the wall, just to be thrown by the bigger one on the humans.

The golem launch is more efficient than rolling!

And soon, humans receive projectile of hundreds of kilos…

***

What is the principal advantage of a living being over an inorganic?

The not living one has nearly no regeneration ability.

Instead, they have resilience: ability to recover their original form after alteration.

When a metal cools down after being heated, it doesn’t recover exactly the previous form.

Grook-Torg knows very well that copper golems have low resilience.

The 3 humans, on the other hand, have a very good survivability.

Magic shield.

Heal.

They need only about 30 seconds to recover fully their lost life from a golem launch.

And even…

Their magic absorbs a part of the damage because of the shield.

As the battle goes on, it doesn’t benefit the golem side.

There is no more golem in reserve within easy reach.

The number of fighting golem is decreasing visibly.

The hits Groork-Torg tries to deal continue being dodged by the old man.

The right arm is inoperative because of the melted metal inside.

Too many flamed punches received…

That’s why humans could dominate many races since their appearance…

Magic control.

Golems got relegated to secondary creatures on the world scene.

Today’s battle proves it once more.

What is so much strength in front of a little bit of magic?

What Groork-Torg doesn’t know, it’s that he’s facing Gandock knight, who exterminated giant steel golems.

It would have been better for him to burst in many small golems and hide instead of facing a that coriaceous opponent.

Self-destruction!

A detonation…

The golem body disappears, propelling small golem everywhere...

***

“That’s why we didn’t come to the bottom of the mine from the beginning: so that you get used to fight golems before fighting a big one!”

“I thought I would die when this golem went boom!”

“The same for me, thank you very much for the shields, they are mighty and efficient!”

“Oh, that’s nothing, you will see much better one invoked by magicians who have the good equipment.”

“What do we do of all the golem rests? We should have quite much copper with all this!”

“We wait for Kanhchrong.”

“Why?”

“When talking about the wolf…”

My favorite puppy comes back after the end of the battle, dragging bags.

“I didn’t make him flee the battle nor look for reinforcement: I sent him look for what would help us gather all this copper!”

And copper, there is quite much.

Even if the last golems, both medium and small size, went back in the wall after the suicide of the big one, the rests of the others still makes a little mountain of loot.

“With all this copper, we’re gonna get rich!”

“Sorry to deceive you, but copper pieces means nearly nothing. Even bronze pieces are of little value between humans…”

“So, why did we do the whole of this?”

“For training purpose, of course! At work! Gather as much copper as possible!”

And that’s how my day with Gandock finished: gathering copper from golem remnants in the bottom of the mine.

Quickly, a shower!