As Annan spoke, he noticed Dunbelly had fallen into thought.
Were Mages always like this? Always finding inspiration and making everyone else look like an idiot?
Not wanting to interrupt Dunbelly, Annan looked up at the metal Golem towering 3.2 meters above him. Refined steel formed its body, its cold, deep sheen seeming to breathe out a chill. It had no face, only a knight's visor.
Annan circled the Knight Golem, his gaze finally settling on the sword in its hand.
Dunbelly had abandoned the original plan to cast the weapon into its grip. Instead, he had made it detachable: the Golem could switch weapons to suit the situation. A heavy shield that stood almost as tall as Annan rested in a corner of the Laboratory.
To maximize its power, the sword had two edges. One gleamed with a razor-sharp edge that could cut a lightly armored enemy in two. The other was thick and serrated. Unless the target wore Plate Armor forged from a single piece of Tempered Steel, that edge would open it like a tin can.
Annan reached out and touched the blade. It felt cold and solid beneath his fingertips.
The Knight Golem had a low center of gravity. With its arms hanging at its sides, the blade reached from waist to head height, giving anyone who faced it the helpless feeling of standing before a massive boulder. And steel was far harder than stone.
The Knight Golem was a pure war machine. It would take only a few dozen of them on a battlefield, standing like a wall of steel... No knight could bring himself to charge into that.
Annan suddenly felt as though he had glimpsed a corner of warfare's future.
*Your Rat Swarm might be endless, but my Golems only cost labor. I