All 1,400 Gno Warriors entered the ancestral grounds and froze at the sight before them. Han Wu had easily managed to slice open the stone gates, each several ters thick, with Ju Que. The cut surface was unnaturally smooth, proof that Han Wu’s weapon had a terrifying edge.
The Gno Lord had removed most of his heavy armor and was leading the army. He looked at the sliced stone gates and understood how dire the situation had beco.
They ran down the corridor of ruined stone gates until they reached the ancestral grounds. There, the Gno Lord saw Han Wu controlling the Transmutation Golem.
“You damned human! How dare you touch our race’s sacred treasure!” the Gno Lord demanded.
The Gno Lord’s fury was justified. The Transmutation Golem was a treasure crafted through the lost arts of alchemy. Legends claid that it rivaled a Great Dragon in strength. Aside from the Gno Lord, only a handful of gno nobles knew of its existence. The rest of the Gno Warriors had no knowledge of what it was or why such a precious treasure lay hidden beneath the great hall.
Han Wu ignored the Gno Lord and focused on learning how to pilot the golem. He controlled the golem and guided it toward the exit.
A gno shouted, “That human is trying to escape. All warriors, throw your bombs and kill him!”
The Gno Warriors yanked the bombs from their waists and tossed them at Han Wu. Each bomb was coated in a sticky substance that clung to almost any surface before exploding.
As expected, the bombs latched onto the golem’s surface without slipping off. Han Wu tried prying them loose, but the adhesive held fast, and several bombs stubbornly stuck to the golem’s fingers.
Before he could rid himself of them, the bombs went off. The first explosion triggered the rest, unleashing a chain of violent explosions that engulfed the golem completely.
Unexpectedly, they proved useless. The golem strode out of the dense smoke without so much as a scratch.
Even the Gno Lord, who had read about its powers, was stunned. He regretted not using the Transmutation Golem to crush the rebellion in the mine from the start. Now the situation was spinning out of control.
“You despicable human. Release the golem, and we will let you leave in peace.” The Gno Lord fought to keep the Transmutation Golem within the kingdom at any cost, even if it ant placating Han Wu.
Han Wu flipped the bird at him. The Gno Lord didn’t know the gesture’s aning, but he had a feeling that it was an insult.
With a roar, the Gno Lord swung his giant hamr at Han Wu. The weapon struck the golem with full force, but instead of damaging it, the hamr itself dented. He kept swinging at the golem, and more dents appeared on the hamr. anwhile, the golem remained unscathed and had instead grown one centiter taller.
Inside the cockpit, Han Wu noticed that the golem was actually absorbing the hamr’s tal to expand its body. At the mont, it was only five ters tall.
He wondered how strong it would beco if it absorbed even more tal. To test it, he charged straight at the Gno Lord.
The Gno Lord fell back while several Gno Warriors rushed forward to protect him, only to be struck away.
Han Wu seized the Gno Warriors’ weapons, and the runes etched into the golem’s body flared to life. A stream of energy poured from the weapons into the golem. Within seconds, the weapons crumbled to dust, and the golem grew taller again.
Han Wu finally understood the golem’s true power. It could keep growing as long as there was tal to absorb.
The Gno Lord panicked. As the gnos’ leader, he knew of the Transmutation Golem’s unique properties. Its creation had once sparked a huge war among the gno nobility, and the last surviving noble family sealed it to prevent another civil war. Ironically, the Transmutation Golem had beco a weapon turned against the gnos themselves.
“Destroy it! Do everything you can to break it!” the Gno Lord hollered.
Sadly, not even the combined strength of 1,400 Gno Warriors and twelve powerful gno nobles could do anything to the golem’s impenetrable defenses, let alone wound Han Wu. On the other hand, the latter seized many of their weapons and absorbed them.
The gnos were stunned. They couldn’t defeat or blast it apart. Despair gripped them as they watched the Transmutation Golem their ancestors had created now wielded against them. They hated their ancestors for creating a golem too durable to destroy.
With the battle turning hopeless, the Gno Lord ordered a full retreat. Until they found a good solution, their only choice was to cut their losses.
Han Wu kept tinkering with the golem rather than chasing after them. He remained in the ancestral grounds and practiced various moves to grow accustod to controlling it.
By the next day, the Gno Lord was still in distress, unable to devise a strategy to stop the golem.
After practicing through the night, Han Wu finally grew familiar with the golem. He piloted it out of the ancestral grounds and appeared in the great hall’s ruins.
The gno nobles were all glaring at him with hatred. After all, he was piloting their most prized creation, the Transmutation Golem. How could they allow a re human to tarnish it?
Han Wu ignored them and headed toward the exit. Along the way, more gno nobles and Gno Warriors glared at him, but none dared to stop him.
“I’m leaving,” Han Wu said. “I also promised to release the gno noble after my tour. I will fulfill my promise once I return.”
None of the gnos rejoiced, even though one of their own would soon be freed. Their hatred for Han Wu burned hotter than any joy could. Still, they could do nothing to stop him. They could only watch as he carried off their treasure.
After leaving the palace, Han Wu ran toward his mine. He needed to get back as quickly as possible.
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