I watch with amusement as Ronan controls his twenty zombie golems. They roll toward him across the ground with that signature sluggishness. Four go in front, side by side, followed by another four. They move like a matrix of two rows and four columns. Another two go on each side, followed by two more, forming what would be a two-by-two matrix. That makes sixteen golems in total.

When they are just a little more than a hand's breadth from Ronan, the four in the front row begin to levitate, rising until they hover just above the necromancer's head height. (Okay, necromancer isn't technically his specialization, that's still what I call him in my mind.)

The four spheres in the row behind them, once they are directly beneath the ones that had floated up, do the same, stopping just under their floating counterparts. Since I'm standing in front of Ronan, I curiously observe how his head, shoulders, and part of his chest are now hidden behind that wall of ice spheres.

The side golems rise in similar fashion, linking together to create a protective barrier around him. In the space above, I imagine two more ice golems will soon position themselves. In fact, only four more golems can fit in the upper spaces because the side golems have already aligned themselves alongside the first and fourth positions of the front row, occupying the same height level.

"Will you help me?" I hear him ask.

"Sure. How?"

"Two of the remaining golems are going to levitate. That way, they will not weigh anything. Just move them forward a bit so they can fill the gap above my head."

I see two of the ice zombies still on the ground slowly rolling toward my friend's back. Once in position, they levitate to the desired height.

I look at them appreciatively. That level of fine control over their levitation height is impressive—and they follow Ronan's commands precisely.

"Now, my lady," he requests.

Carefully, I touch one of the golems. It's cold. Sure, it's dead, but that doesn't stop it from being a giant spherical ice cube. I gently push it forward until it bumps into the ones in front. For a moment, I worry that even though the push was soft, their levitating state might cause them to shift. But instead, it stays locked in place, and none of the golems move. It's as if they're a single structure and together absorbed the little bit of momentum the new member brought with it.

"Ronan, your zombies seem stuck together."

"Yes, I was told it is something they do. Or did, when they were alive. They can attach and anchor to other golems."

"Interesting."

And I'm sure this gives Ronan a whole new range of possibilities to work with.

Anyway, I grab the second golem and slot it into place.

"By the way," I suddenly think to ask, "these golems can only levitate. How are you going to get them over a castle?"

"With my birds. The golem levitates about three meters, the bird pushes it, the golem levitates higher above the castle, and the bird flies off. I have lots of birds."

Yeah, that tracks...

"And what about these last two golems?" I ask, pointing to them as I see them moving slowly across the ground toward their master's back.

"To cover the back of my head."

Honestly, it's kind of fascinating to watch: Ronan is about to be fully encased in some kind of floating cage made of ice balls, each one a bit larger than a basketball—two high in the front, two on each side, and one at the back.

Once the cage is complete, the necromancer takes a step, and the zombies move with him.

Through the gaps left between the joined spheres, I see that Ronan has extended his right hand forward and shifted the golems with just a light push. Makes sense, since they're levitating and weightless.

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

"Ronan, earlier, when you showed me the core of one of the golems you didn't animate—can you animate it back at the academy when you have mana?"

"Since I already know its body because I have animated other golems, yes. But it would be a soulless golem, a generic one. If I wanted a specific golem, once it is my friend I can bring it back using its core. That means I have to have spent time with it, either while it was undead or when it was alive."

Like Joe's skull…

Worse. This is the kind of thing where, if I die, he can bring me back.

I eye his little pouch suspiciously. He doesn't have a lock of my hair in there… does he?

"All right. If you're ready, let's go."

"As you wish, my lady."

Ronan, walking shielded by his ice zombies, moves forward and enters the cave.

At first, I watch from outside and nothing seems to happen. But after he's walked a couple of meters, a high-pitched screech pierces the air, and dozens of frost-covered bats come flying full speed toward him.

Warning. You are under the effect of multiple minor level disorientation spells, which together act as an intermediate level disorientation spell. You cannot move coherently or think clearly for the next 30 seconds.

Honestly, I don't even know why I read the system message—probably because I'm not in combat myself.

I don't fully register what's happening either. It's more like, in hindsight, I remember what I saw and realize that, while I was under the altered state, the bats crashed into Ronan. The spheres covered him well—especially since the bats were attacking from above, meaning very few went for his legs. The dust and white shards I saw filling the air were from the zombie golems' spells. The bats could not really hurt them on impact due to their solid defenses; nor could they with their bites. The zombies are immune to status effects, and from what Ronan told me, he himself has high resistance thanks to a skill called iron will. Being my vassal only grants him minor resistance to such effects.

Darkness gathered around Ronan—not the kind that seeped from beneath his cloak, but something deeper, his own. A blackened circle spread on the rocky ground beneath him, the mark of his area exhaust, affecting the bats that circled above.

Then, Tom enters the chamber, and the disorientation effect on me wears off.

First, I take a couple of seconds to process what my eyes just saw in the room, to make sense of it.

Then I focus on Tom. What Ronan wanted to test was whether Tom would aggro more bats into the chamber as he advanced, or if all of them had already gone after Ronan.

I watch as the skeleton passes his master and walks straight through the flock of enemies surrounding him. None of them strike at him. He keeps going. No new bats appear to attack him. He does, however, start to take some ice bolts—either dodging them or blocking with his shield.

"Proceed, my lady," I hear in my mind.

The undead golems are attacking the bats. According to what we learned about the dungeon, the bats can only cast their disorientation once. Since there were so many—around sixty—and they attacked all at once, they are extremely dangerous.

I step into the cave and pull the tiny pup out of my pocket. It instantly grows to full size and rushes to join the fight. Well, fight is one way to put it, because all the bats are exhausted now, and since they already used their diving impact attack, the only thing they can do is bite. Or try to. Which doesn't work on the golems.

The pup, clearly thrilled by the amount of easy experience it's about to gain (or at least that's the impression I get), closes the distance in a quick dash and leaps at the bats. I know Ronan will protect him, so I can relax.

As for me, I focus on the other golems—the ones shooting ice bolts. Tom is walking toward one of them while seven others target him with spells. He's starting to take damage that he cannot block or dodge.

All right.

This is going to be a tougher shot than the ones before, because while these golems are bigger—I'd say they reach up to my chest—they're also much farther away.

I channel fire into the quiver, draw an arrow, take aim, and shoot.

I hit one of the golems, interrupting its casting of an ice bolt. Obviously, it doesn't die. The golem remains frozen for a few moments, not starting its spell again. Maybe I just drew its aggro and it's recalibrating me as a threat?

No idea. I take advantage and shoot another arrow at it.

Its skin—or rather, its ice—is tougher than that of the other golems, but my channeling has improved too. My arrows pierce through without a problem. With the second shot, the golem crashes to the ground, lifeless. Despite the shrieks of the bats, I hear the dry thud as it hits the floor.

I aim at another and shoot.

When the arrow lands and sinks into the tough ice, it explodes.

"Yes!" I blurt out, bouncing a little in place.

Uh… I think Ronan did not see that. He is busy helping the pup.

With my adult dignity still intact, I watch as large chunks of ice from the shattered golem slam into the ground and the nearby wall.

That makes two down, six to go.

Then I hear a mental shout in my head.

"Down!"

I don't think. I just drop.

An ice bolt shoots through the space where I had just been standing, mere moments later, coming from the opposite end of the cave.

"Thanks," I reply to Ronan in the same mental way.

"Tom warned me. You drew aggro—be careful."

As I get back on my feet and start moving so I'm not a sitting target, I notice that Tom—part of his body now frozen and chunks of his leather armor missing—has reached the golem he was heading for and begins attacking it with his sword.

The other five ignore him and are now aiming at me.

Great.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.