Chapter 168: Hell Legion and Steel Golems
The Devil, clad in a full set of Legendary equipment radiating with multicolored light, sat on the throne at the very top of this hellish realm, as if he were the Demon Lord who ruled over all of Hell.
In reality, the Devil had no idea what the Demon Lord’s throne looked like, nor had he ever even seen the Demon Lord. Hell’s hierarchy was strict, and not just anyone could meet the Demon Lord. This Devil clearly belonged to the category of those who were not qualified, so he could only construct this throne forged from hell iron based on his imagination. This was the limit of the Devil’s imagination. Next, he began to construct various hellish monsters and soldiers.
Due to its proximity to the Abyss, the monsters in Hell were influenced by its chaotic energies, resulting in appearances that were, to put it mildly, indescribable. They were unlike the Devil soldiers of Hell, who, despite being lower-ranking Devils, mostly retained human forms, only with an added pair of horns. This allowed them to use equipment and weapons.
Moreover, the structure of the Hell soldiers was very rigorous, with shield bearers, spearmen, archers, cavalry, and spellcasters, capable of adapting to various types of enemies. Their most potent tactic was using magic to obliterate entire areas, as Devils were natural spellcasters.
Owen, who had initially planned to construct units from Age of Empires, frowned. If he followed his previous plan, he clearly had little chance of winning.
The Devil wasn’t constructing Hell’s main army, as he didn’t have the authority to do so. Without sufficient contact and understanding, even in this magical space, he couldn’t conjure them out of thin air. Therefore, he could only construct the lower-tier ordinary Hell Legion.
Despite this, every soldier in the Hell Legion was the elite of the elite. The combat experience and skills accumulated over countless years surpassed the imagination of ordinary humans. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say they rivaled Legendary Warriors, reaching the limits of human potential. Coupled with the Devils’ superior physique compared to humans, it could be said that each Devil soldier was capable of taking on a hundred human opponents. It was simply not a force that a mortal army could confront, even if Owen’s Age of Empires units fought fearlessly.
“It seems I need to take this seriously,” Owen muttered to himself, his expression turning excited.
The construction of his fantasy army had to be based on what he was familiar with and mastered. Therefore, the Devil couldn’t construct Devils of a higher rank than himself, nor could he construct equipment he had never encountered.
Owen should have been subject to the same limitations, but he had the System. And this space didn’t require tangible reality; it only needed corresponding data to transform into reality. So the question arose: to what extent could Owen achieve in this peculiar space? Even he was curious.
“I’ll use the Academy units as an appetizer, but first, I need to try constructing Warm Baby. Otherwise, it’ll be a bit strenuous.” Owen was aware of his own Intelligence attribute, so he began his operation.
Warm Baby’s structure wasn’t complicated; the complexity lay in its internal programming. However, all of Flame Empress’s data had been copied by Owen. Although he couldn’t recall it afterward due to the sheer volume of data, in this special space, every symbol appeared clearly in his mind, making the construction process very smooth.
“Warm Baby, activate Psychic Synchronization, activate Thought Acceleration, activate Copy and Paste.” The completed Warm Baby hovered above Owen’s head. After achieving psychic resonance with it through Puppet Manipulation, Owen’s thinking speed became incredibly fast. In a very short time, he located the knowledge about Golems in his memory.
After obtaining the Alchemist profession, Owen possessed the entire Academy’s alchemical knowledge, including the pinnacle of alchemical creation, the Titan. But how much he could utilize depended entirely on himself. After all, even if you were given the complete blueprints of a rocket, besides selling it as scrap paper, what were the chances of you teaching yourself to launch a satellite?
However, now Owen didn’t need to understand, didn’t need to master; he only needed to recall it in his mind, and the construction was complete. It was incredibly satisfying.
The first to be constructed were the Iron Golems, a regular unit from the Heroes of Might and Magic Academy. These Golems, composed of large chunks of cast iron, were crude and cumbersome, but it had to be said that their cost-effectiveness was high, especially when their numbers reached a certain level. The iron torrent they formed was simply unstoppable by human power. During the Academy’s peak, every foundry could continuously produce these Golems, crushing any enemy who dared to approach the Academy.
And this was just the beginning. Owen quickly upgraded and replaced the Iron Golems with the more advanced Steel Golems.
Steel Golems were lighter, sturdier, more lethal, and faster than Iron Golems; they were highly efficient killing machines.
What was even more terrifying was that with Warm Baby’s assistance, the Steel Golems appeared as if they were being copied and pasted. First, they appeared one by one, then row by row, quickly forming a steel legion.
While Owen was conceiving new unit types, the Golem legion had already collided with the hellish monsters.
The hellish monsters were hideous and powerful. Their appearance and frenzied aura alone were enough to make humans tremble. But against these steel creations, it was all meaningless. The Steel Golems, wielding heavy double-edged blades, swung their weapons in unison, like a row of fruit-cutting knives on an assembly line, turning the charging hellish monsters into even uglier corpses. Even when faced with the hellish monsters’ various bizarre tactics, they didn’t flinch in the slightest.
Acid, sonic waves, poisonous blood, claws, fangs – all sorts of unexpected attacks were endured by the Steel Golems, who retaliated immediately.
“Golems? Truly troublesome opponents.” Devils, besides tempting intelligent beings to fall, were also adept at instilling fear. Otherwise, they wouldn’t bother constructing the cost-ineffective hellish monsters, which were meant to evoke fear in their opponents. But he never expected that his opponent would not only remain calm but also construct the most annoying adversary: Golems.
“Alright, let me teach you a lesson and show you that nothing can stand against the Hell soldiers.” The Devil was well aware of the strength of the Hell soldiers; they were a powerful force capable of sweeping across the Material Plane. Even the Hell Legion, merely the second echelon of Hell, was not to be trifled with. So, raising his Legendary Demon Sword, he ordered the fully prepared Hell Legion to attack.
The Hell Legion’s coordination was near perfect. All the soldiers were like gears in this war machine. Even facing the seemingly invincible Steel Golems, they didn’t stop their advance. Their methods of dealing with them were so simple and direct that Owen was stunned.
The heavy infantry in the back braced their shields against the backs of the heavy infantry in the front, using their collective strength to push the Steel Golems to the ground. Then, they thrust their short swords into the joints, rendering the Steel Golems capable of only making creaking sounds but unable to move.
Fortunately, the new unit type Owen had been constructing was complete and had formed a sizable force, halting the Hell Legion’s advance in time.
The newly added Gargoyles weren’t particularly powerful units, but their ability to fly was a significant advantage. Especially when these sturdy stone creatures swooped down from the sky, even without using their sharp claws, they were enough to smash a fully armed soldier into a pulp. Even with the Devils’ superior physique compared to humans, they couldn’t avoid broken bones and shattered tendons.
But once again, Owen was surprised. The Devil heavy infantry overlapped their shields, dispersing the impact force of the Gargoyles. One by one, the Gargoyles crashed into the scale-like shield wall. Stone fragments flew everywhere, and the shield wall undulated, but it never broke through the defense.
