The Executed Sage Reincarnates as a Lich and Begins a War of Aggression

The bullets fired by the golems mercilessly attacked the Holy Scepter Army.

The soldiers collapsed one after another as their blood was spilled.

One unlucky person got hit on their head, and their brain was pierced and before they instantly died.

Those who weren’t hit dragged their injured comrades behind the trees.

The golems resumed their march after lowering their arms.

The inorganic weapons steadily closed the distance between them and the Holy Scepter Army.

Those are guns… they seem to have installed it in their fingertips?

I paid close attention to the golems' hands.

There were faint wisps of white smoke rising from their fingertips.

It was probably from the gunfire.

I couldn’t tell with just a glance, but all those fingers seemed to be gun barrels.

Those golems were not without weapons.

It was just that those weapons were built inside of them.

As such, they had no need to wield a weapon using their arms.

It was a great strength wasn't easily or initially identifiable from just its appearance.

From their opponent's perspective, they wouldn’t know what kind of attack to expect until it hit them.

This made it easier to catch them by surprise.

There were humans who fought using hidden weapons.

These golems' guns seemed to have been developed according to that principle.

The Holy Scepter Army desperately tried to resist.

They kept attacking from a distance using magic and arrows. 

On the other hand, the golems used protection magic to overcome these attacks.

Most of the Holy Scepter Army’s attacks were rendered ineffective before this robust barrier.

Occasionally, the golems would also fire their finger guns.

Each time they did, corpses would pile up

Their salvo aim was accurate and it managed to hit soldiers who were hiding between the trees.

Perhaps was a technician remote-controlling them from within the fortress.

There was connection from their magic powers that seemed to suggest such a thing.

Furthermore, the soldiers at the fort also helped by using their crossbows and ballista.

This prevented the Holy Scepter Army from counterattacking.

The golems brilliantly worked together.

One could say that they had trained many times for such a situation.

Overall, the Holy Scepter Army was at a clear disadvantage.

They gradually drew back, increasing the number of victims without any means of resistance.

They wouldn’t be able to seize victory without going closer.

However, they had no capacity to move forward.

It was also clear that their morale had dropped even from a distance.

“UUOOOOOOOOOOOOO!”

A roar echoed throughout the battlefield.

It came from one of the soldiers affiliated with the Holy Scepter Army.

That soldier avoided the incoming attack with beast-like movements, and managed to reach the nearest golem.

He slipped through the defensive magic deployed by the golems, and swung upwards with his long sword.

The head of the golem which received the blade had a slight depression and a straight crack appeared on it.

However, that was all the attack was worth.

The golem continued to move as if nothing had happened and grabbed the soldier's ankle.

Then, it smashed him on a nearby tree.

The soldier's upper body was torn off.

The scattered viscera soaked said golem.

Similar sights were occurring all around the vicinity.

One of the golems' fist hit a soldier's head and it exploded.

There were also those who got restrained and then got shot by the bullets at close range.

All of those soldiers attempted close range combat against the golems.

Those who tried to inspire themselves during this disadvantageous situation all met miserable ends.

The golems' bodies were made of metal.

They were also constructed as weapons.

Looking at these series of exchanges, they appeared to be designed more robustly than normal golems.

They were sturdy enough without protection magic.

In addition, the golems had extraordinary strength.

If one carelessly approached them, they would only be murdered just like what happened here.

As sluggish as they were, they were still capable of reacting properly at close range.

If one wanted to stop the metal golems, they would need to be powerful enough to quickly destroy the magic engraved inside of it with a single blow.

This was needed to render the golems inoperative.

It would also be effective to absorb the magic power within its power source. 

Anyway, a half-baked physical attack would only bring more risk than what it was worth.

“It’s so one sided…”

“It can’t be helped. They’re just poorly matched.”

I observed the golems as I responded to Grom’s mutter.

The magic power contained inside of it gradually started to deplete.

Especially when it used protection magic, it was greatly exhausted.

This was probably because all of its functions relied on the magic power it stored within it.

The more actions it did, the more it reduced the time it could operate.

The golems of the Magic Kingdom were seemingly unsuited for a protracted battle.

However, this didn’t mean that they would stop any time soon.

At this scale, they still had enough magic power to last until this battle ended.

Rather, considering all of the functions it was able to execute, the magic power consumption was abnormally small.

It wasn’t something that other nations' technological capabilities were capable of reproducing.

Its inner structure was also quite complicated.

I could only say that it was expected of the Magic Kingdom.

The battle has already been decided.

The Holy Scepter Army, which had only a few survivors left, finally began to withdraw.

They escaped to the depths of the forest while using magic to restrain the advancing enemies.

Considering the direction they went to — it was the territory of the Holy Scepter Army.

The golems didn’t chase them too far.

At this point, the victory of the Magic Kingdom Army was already confirmed.

They only tried to mop up the enemy within the vicinity without greedily chasing after them.

If they poorly pursued them, it might lead to unnecessary damage.

The Magic Kingdom also understood that.

“The battle is over. What should we do now?”

“We’re going home. We have had our harvest.”

There was no point in staying here for long.

It would be troublesome if the Magic Kingdom Army found us.

I used transfer magic to instantly transfer myself to the audience room of the capital.

As we returned to a familiar place, Grom made an exaggerated move.

“Ooh, is this perhaps…”

There was a golem dropped in front of his sight.

Its torso was severely torn, its head was split in half, and its internal structure was exposed.

Its inner structure was damaged and appeared to have ceased to function.

“Demon Lord-sama, is this…”

“Of course, it’s a golem of the Magic Kingdom. I brought back one that had gotten destroyed during the battle.”

In the battle earlier, the Holy Scepter Army managed to put up a fight, even in such a disadvantageous situation.

As a result, they managed to destroy a few golems.

This was just one of those.

I had just stolen the result of their effort.

The Magic Kingdom would surely notice that one of their golems had been taken away.

I didn’t mind that.

They would surely think that the Holy Scepter Army had just managed to secure it as they were retreating.

They wouldn’t think that the Demon Lord was actually hiding in that battlefield and had stolen a golem after doing some reconnaissance.

It was a sneaky method, if I do to say so myself.

However, there was no problem with that since I was the Demon Lord.

The Holy Scepter Kingdom might get accused of theft, but they were the ones who began the battle out of their own selfish desires.

So, they should be able to tolerate at least that much.

I intended to send this golem to the laboratory for research.

I decided to leave the analysis to the staff, and to imitate such golems if it was possible.

Since I could use magic to produce golems, I could make something similar as long as a suitable vessel was prepared.

It would be very convenient to have a golem with such high performance skills as a weapon.

I could expect a new force, in addition to the undead.

The uncovered technology should be applicable to other fields as well.

It would be an indispensable sample for the current laboratory.

Regarding the Magic Kingdom, we would only monitor it for the moment.

This war began because of the domineering attitude of the Holy Scepter Kingdom.

In other words, since the Holy Scepter Kingdom was the cause which disturbed the harmony between humans; I had no intention of imposing any sanctions on the Magic Kingdom.

Even so, it appeared that the Magic Kingdom possessed technological capabilities beyond my imagination.

They even hid something like these golems, which were beyond the technical capabilities and reach of the Demon Lord's territory.

It was better to consider that it was developing various things which were yet to appear.

At present, the stance of the Magic Kingdom was still unknown.

Did they strengthen their military to prepare to invade the Demon Lord’s territory?

The reaction of the spies sent were subtle, which made it hard to conclude anything.

If they were producing those golems for self-defense, I would leave them alone.

But if they intended to invade the Demon Lord's territory, they needed to be prepared to pay the price.

I needed to prepare some measures to prepare for such a possibility.