Below Faust, the battle raged on. Everyone had lost track of the axe wielding player and were dragged back into the reality of the ongoing event.

Intercepting Midnight Lynx and facing the strongest teams of goblins and Kobolds became a task for the others. Teams with high-level Observe users would roam the walls for assassins. And people with special skills or Schemas stopped the trolls.

Faust walked the walls calmly. The battle stretched along the west side of the Novice village for what felt like miles. There was more fighting at the northern and southern gates.

It’s like a small war.

Faust couldn’t blame the people too scared to participate. The sounds of explosions, screaming and death rattled everything behind the wall. People peek from the small houses of the village every few minutes, checking if the walls had been broken.

It was a terrifying thing to be dragged from your life into hell.

But only those that adapted quickly enough would survive. And if surviving this would equip anyone to step into a new world as a leader or at least a master of their own destiny.

Faust pulled out his golems from his bag and pulled them apart with his skill. He closed his eyes, focusing on the feeling of will and freedom. Go anywhere you want. See everything. That was what he wanted the core of his Golemancy to be.

His hands worked far more quickly this time. He put together the golem slightly differently, connecting pieces with a strange intuition. This was an explorer. Something that would step into a new world and serve as his eyes.

He placed the new golems on the ground in front of him marvelling at his work. They held all the structural precision added by Amelia, but they also had a natural charm to them.

They were capable of traversing the rough world to discover what is beyond.

He picked up two and placed the third back in his spatial bag. Controlling two was already difficult, three would be pushing it.

Casually he leapt from the fifteen foot wall and landed silently beside a healer tending to a person. They both jumped, gawking at him and then the wall. He offered them a friendly wave and help.

Instance Replication.

The healing speed doubled. Faust was sure the patient would need it after all; he looked rather pale.

Then he was off to a point in the front line that was experiencing a drought in enemies. These men and women did not recognise him when he jumped over their shields and called out.

"Get back, this place is just quiet for now," One man spat.

A woman with a bronze spartan shield bumped his shoulder. "Just leave him. He probably thinks this is a game."

Faust turned back, smiling brightly. "It is."

He placed a hand on the soil in front of him and used Serpent’s call from one of his replicated Schema, imbuing it with a specific command.

The ground rose and cracked ominously. The two frontliners raised their shields, eyes widening as they realised this was a Schema user. Faust threw his two golems onto the serpent with simple mental commands to hold on till they reached the gate.

RUMBLE!

The stone serpent took off,u rolling across the field into a team of goblins coming this way. All of them were crushed under the charge of the serpent. Blood and flesh were crushed and mixed with dirt.

Turning to the frontliners, Faust offered them a mocking salute and jumped over them, rushing towards the southern gate. Towards Nirvana’s group.

Zen was shooting his arrows peacefully when Faust landed on the wall beside him. The boy turned his lazy black eyes on Faust and sighed.

"Why do you smell like more work?"

"It’s called sandalwood, bozo," Faust replied without missing a step. "But yes I do have a job for you."

"How much?"

"What?"

"How much will I be paid?" Zen repeated. "Dollars, euros, pounds, Dineros, Congolese Franc. I take anything, but I must take something before I do anything for anyone."

Faust’s exasperation had him frozen to the spot for a second. This can’t be a real person. With a calming exhale, he turned away.

Then began waving at Nirvana on the ground.

Zen blinked. "Bro, you’re rich. You can just negotiate."

"Rich, but not willing to be exploited." Faust said. Why pay someone to do something when someone else could do it for free.

Nirvana came soon after, smiling brightly. "Someone told me you were posted in the west to face the gate. You came to help us? We aren’t in a tough spot right now, but you should stay."

"Actually I need some help," Faust said before launching into an explanation of his plans, pointing at the stone serpent transporting his golems to the gates now.

Zen blinked once again, his slack feature rising in disbelief. "Why am I not surprised you want to do all this work?"

Faust reached down and slapped his head. "Shut up. So, Nirvana, how about it? I need to concentrate while controlling the golems, I’ll be a bit vulnerable, and I can bet the system will send assassins to make it hard for me."

Nirvana looked like she hadn’t followed half his words. But she brushed back her hair and put on a perky smile.

"Yeah, I don’t mind. I’m cool. I totally understood... all that. Are you starting now?"

Faust glanced at the golems that were just reaching the gate. "Yes," he said quickly, sitting to focus. "Zen use your Observe Skill to watch for anything."

"Zen, do what you’ve been doing this whole time," Zen repeated, in a mocking tone. "Sure!" He sent Faust a big thumbs up and a fake smile. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶

Rolling his eyes, Faust sank his perception into the two Golems at will. Then he closed his eyes and focused on splitting the vision into two lanes in his mind. Like playing free for all in a certain shooter game on your friends tv.

The Golem gazed on the gate, basking in the kaleidoscope of colors pouring from it. Their vision could rotate to see in three hundred and sixty degrees thanks to the needle and glass ball Amelia installed.

Surveying the battlefield, Faust saw as the stone serpent mowed everything down.

But a big problem loomed ahead.

A troll stepped out of the crystalline portal with a great battle ram. And it was in the stone serpent’s way.

That looks like it won’t break easily.

Faust sent a quick set of orders. The golems jumped off the rolling landslide in the shape of a serpent just as it crashed into the troll.

BOOM!

The mass of rocks tackled the troll, exploding into a shower of dirt. The golems skittered between the raining boulders and the falling giant, dodging a massive hand and snaking between the legs of a fleeing goblin.

With some hesitation, Faust willed the golems to leap into the portal before anything could stop them. Including himself.