Chapter 472: Puppet Army

“What is this?”
From the orc side, everything from the Supreme Gods down to ordinary warriors was stunned by the twelve giant steel monsters that appeared on the human side.
When the humans first appeared, those warriors didn’t seem to have a great chance of winning in the eyes of the orcs, yet they all appeared full of confidence. This made Karla, the Orc God of Birth, doubt even before the battle began—could these seemingly frail humans be hiding some kind of scheme?
This was because the orcs were too focused on reviving their god, fearing that any mistake might lead the humans to suspect them and ruin the great return of Ughash to their race. As a result, they had little contact with the outside world and thus were unaware of the fame the Dalarn Mercenaries had gained in the New World.
Whether it was the Holy Shield Infantry Corps or the Druid Order, they were all highly regarded as powerful military forces by their employers.
But among the Dalarn Mercenaries, the most remarkable were two special units: the Artillery Corps, composed of the Musketeer Guard, Mortar Brigade, and Bombardier Cart Brigade, as well as the Mage Guard under the Tower of Eternity.
War weapons like muskets, crossbows, javelin carts, and Destroyer Bombardier Carts were already well-known. Although those made in Dalarn were clearly superior, it wasn’t particularly surprising.
However, the appearance of mortars truly shocked all human factions. After all, to wield a weapon that could deliver damage comparable to powerful spells like fireballs using merely mortal bodies was undoubtedly a milestone in human warfare.
Even magic crystal cannons required mages to operate, but the gunners of those mortar teams were just ordinary human soldiers—none of them even mage apprentices.
Moreover, these mortars could be fired repeatedly. Mastering such a weapon meant having an additional force capable of unleashing repeated fireball attacks, akin to a squad of bronze mages. This was a powerful force that every human faction desired!
What surprised human spellcasters even more was that through post-battle research, they discovered that aside from the muskets, which used crystals as power, those mortars didn’t rely on traditional alchemical enchantment methods. Instead, they used a combination of alchemy’s pharmacology and much-lost goblin engineering.

This means the attacks they inflict lack magical fluctuations, rendering most defensive measures against spells largely ineffective against them. Fortunately, the most powerful effects of these weapons are only equivalent to a third-level fireball spell, and their numbers are not large. Otherwise, mages and church clergy would surely unite to suppress these terrifying weapons at their source. This is also why Donald did not use the many powerful weapons from the Truth when his strength was still weak at first. Unlike the artillery corps, the Mage Guard consists of only twelve members. Its strength lies not in these young mages but in the entities they control! Initially, the forces that hired the Mage Guard doubted what these low-level mages, mostly at the black iron rank and only recently transitioning from apprentices to full-fledged mages, could actually do, given that their hiring cost was much higher than that of the Gryphon Knight squad. Yet soon, people saw the strength of the Mage Guard. Drawing inspiration from a summoning space badge in a previous work, Donald created such magical badges with built-in spaces using the Truth’s Creation Factory. These badges, known as Puppet Badges, can accommodate various entities depending on their size and characteristics—golems, onyx statues, rock puppets, as well as war puppets, destroyers, and other alchemical puppet constructs produced by the Truth. Initially, this invention was meant to facilitate mages in their territories. Later, Donald thought that creating a dedicated army of war puppets would make them invincible on the battlefield. Thus was born the Mage Guard, an alien-style drone armor unit. At first, mages’ towers were used to select individuals throughout Dalaran who had magical talent but not high levels of aptitude, allowing them to decide whether to participate in the project. Eventually, out of over a thousand eligible candidates, twelve suitable young people were chosen. Through potion-enhanced stimulation, Donald helped them skip the apprentice stage and become full-fledged mages. In terms of potential, these twelve moderately talented young mages might not have any advantages and could even remain at the bronze rank for life. But what Donald needed was for them to possess magical abilities to control these puppets in battle.

After several rounds of simulated training, the mage guards, whose skills had gradually improved, were given the opportunity to go to the New World for actual combat. Things got out of control—not only did the mage guards’ war puppet units become famous across the continent, but their members also became objects of envy for everyone.
“Are you cheating?”
Beigel, the God of Plunder, shouted at the two human gods within his domain, ready to destroy those twelve humanoid steel monsters.
The King of the North promptly blocked his attack with his own domain and said coldly, “It’s not yet time for war. Do you really want to start now?”
Donald also spoke up, “You orcs have strong bodies, but we humans possess greater wisdom. The laws of the universe are fair. Talking about cheating—probably they’re just afraid of losing!”
“You…!”
Enraged by these words, Beigel became furious again and was about to attack, but was stopped once more by Kala.
“We still don’t know who will win or lose. Don’t let their words provoke you!”
Seeing that their verbal provocation had no effect, Donald and the others turned their attention back to the battle below.
Each of the twelve most powerful metal war puppets was 25 feet tall, as massive as small mountains, and even taller than the walls of fortresses. Such beings were undoubtedly ultimate weapons for conquering lands.
The young mages of the mage guards controlled the war puppets to form a fan shape, facing the charging orc Bull Totem warriors.
In the sky, the griffin knights also drew their crossbows and fired arrows. However, the Bull Totem warriors of the bull-headed tribes already had strong physical defenses and the protection of mysterious totem powers. Even the powerful crossbow arrows that could pierce bullhide were either blocked by totem pillars or only caused minor injuries, rendering their attacks almost ineffective.
“Use Blood of the Infernal Demon!”
In response, the griffin knights immediately changed their tactics. Under the command of their captain, Eric, they carefully took out spherical pottery jars from the pouches attached to their saddles and threw them at the position where the orcs were charging.
Inside these jars was the latest product refined by the Dalarn Alchemy Factory—the alchemical creation invented by hybrid dark elf mages: Blood of the Infernal Demon.
When the thin pottery jars fell onto the Bull Totem warriors and their surroundings, they shattered instantly, spilling the light red liquid everywhere.

Since these liquids showed no magical fluctuations and had no pungent smell, they did not trigger the defensive mechanisms of the totemic powers. The Orc warriors whose heads were splashed with the liquid simply wiped it off and continued charging at the human forces. Even those giant metal puppets could not stop their fighting spirit! Seeing that half of their plan had succeeded, one of the commanders there, the Blood Mage Kelthas, worked together with the Griffon Knights to summon a cloud of fire. The dark red fire cloud, filled with sparks, immediately spread toward the Orc forces. On the other side, the Golden Beast God Priest, seeing that the human warriors had taken the initiative, could not allow them to threaten the safety of their elite Bull Totoem Warriors. He immediately cast spells to disperse the fire cloud summoned by Kelthas. In fact, although the fire cloud summoned by Kelthas covered a large area, it was not a particularly powerful spell. The elderly Beast God Priest quickly drove away most of it. In this regard, he was successful—had it not been for the Blood of the Flame Demons. Although most of the fire cloud was dispersed by the priest’s magic, scattered sparks still fell to the ground. When they came into contact with the alchemical agent, the Blood of the Flame Demons, which was more flammable and resistant to fire than ordinary blazing glue, it instantly caused intense fires. All the Bull Totoem Warriors who came into contact with this agent cried out in pain, fell off their bulls, and rolled on the ground trying to extinguish the flames. The ignited bulls also went wild, galloping around frantically. Unfortunately, the most terrifying aspect of the Blood of the Flame Demons was its adhesive nature. Once it touched skin, it would melt flesh and bones. Unless powerful rule-based forces were used to extinguish the fire immediately, the only way to stop its spread was to quickly cut off the affected area before it penetrated the muscles and reached the bones and internal organs. The Orcs, unaware of this, learned a painful lesson. Even the Bull Totoem Warriors, whose physical strength rivaled that of Silver Swordmasters, were left half-cooked. With just one attack of flaming projectiles, one-third of the Orcs’ elite Bull Totoem Warriors were lost. The elderly Beast God Priest was so heartbroken he could barely speak, trembling as he pointed at the human commander Kelthas. As for the other Orc commander, the legendary Orc Sword Saint, in his fury, decided to eliminate those human warriors to avenge his Bull Totoem Warriors.

However, after launching their bomb attacks, the Griffon Knights would soar high into the air, making it difficult even for the legendary Sword Saint to pursue them. After all, they lacked the magic of flight and were not naturally capable of flying. Thus, they turned their attention to those twelve human young mages on the ground.
Even before the battle began, the orcs had to suffer such heavy losses. As the commanders of this operation, the two powerful orc warriors abandoned their originally cautious plans and had to fight directly in the field to avoid being outmaneuvered by the humans again!