Awakening a 10,000x Skill Proficiency Multiplier in the Apocalypse-Chapter 53: []: The Golem Foundry, Scrap and Skulls

Sanctuary was rapidly filling up with people. But bodies alone didn’t win wars against the monsters.

Sebastian walked down the grand spiraling staircase into the deepest sublevel of the Citadel.

The five-kilometer perimeter outside was massive. Even with a thousand terrified laborers holding rusty pipes, they couldn’t possibly defend the walls.

Human soldiers were fragile. They panicked. They bled. And worst of all, when they died, they turned into Infected and attacked you from behind.

He needed guards that didn’t complain, didn’t sleep, and didn’t have a central nervous system to hijack.

He reached the Guild Core room. The massive diamond of the True City Core floated above its obsidian pedestal.

It pulsed with a slow golden heartbeat. It was the anchor tethering this digital fortress to the real world.

Sebastian stepped up to the console. He needed a master crafter.

There was only one NPC degenerate enough to build the horrors he required.

He placed his hands on the glowing runes.

"Guild Master Override. Initiate targeted real-world summoning protocol. Target: Galleon, Master Artificer."

The system chimed. It was a harsh grating sound.

[Warning: Summoning a high-tier Ethereal entity into physical reality requires a massive expenditure of Real-World Mana. Physical backlash imminent. Proceed?]

"Fuck it. Proceed." Sebastian gritted his teeth.

He felt the drain instantly. It wasn’t like casting a spell. It felt like his life force was forcefully siphoned.

Sebastian dropped to one knee. He gasped for air as the dark violet veins on his arms bulged and burned.

"ARGH!" he coughed. He spit a speck of blood onto the polished glass floor.

Above the pedestal, the space violently tore open. Blue data streams cascaded downward and weaved together in a chaotic frenzy.

The smell of cheap ale and vomit instantly flooded the pristine room.

THUD.

A massive broad figure slammed onto the floor and groaned loudly.

It was Galleon. The dwarf was covered in soot-stained leathers. His fiery orange beard was matted with questionable fluids.

He clutched his head. His eyes were squeezed shut against the bright lights of the Core room.

"By the First Maker’s hairy ass." Galleon groaned. His voice was like grinding gravel. "My head is splitting. Did the tavern collapse again?"

The dwarf cracked open one bloodshot eye. He looked at the flawless dark glass and the pulsing True Core.

Then he looked down at his own hands and wiggled his thick fingers.

"What the hell is this?" Galleon whispered. His eyes widened. "The textures... the rendering. This ain’t Ironhold. The graphics are too high-def! I can feel the individual grains of dirt in my beard!"

"Welcome to reality, stubby." Sebastian wheezed. He slowly pushed himself up from the floor and wiped his mouth.

"I pulled you out of the server. You’re physical now."

Galleon stared at him. Then he let out a massive booming laugh that echoed in the chamber.

"The real world?! You pulled me out of the code? Boss, you are a certified grade-A lunatic! I love it!"

"Tell me you have a forge! Tell me you have ale!"

"I have something better." Sebastian said as his silver eyes gleamed.

"I have thousands of tons of unregulated scrap metal and a mountain of dead bodies. I need an army, Galleon. And I need it in an hour."

Ten minutes later, they stood in the massive open-air courtyard near the eastern wall.

Sebastian’s newly organized labor division had been busy.

Under the terrifyingly efficient gaze of Valerie and the silent patrols of assassin squads, the workers had dragged piles of material into the center of the stone plaza.

There were massive heaps of rusted iron rebar, crushed concrete blocks, and twisted steel girders.

But right next to the metal was a far more gruesome pile.

It was a mound of pulverized bones and blackened skulls harvested from the thousands of Infected that had cooked themselves against the outer barrier.

"Beautiful." Galleon wept. He wiped a tear from his eye.

The dwarf walked around the pile of scrap and skulls and patted the rusted metal affectionately.

"No regulations. No safety limits. We can build horrors, boss."

"We lack manpower." Sebastian explained as he stood next to the pile. "Standard golems take too much refined clay and pristine mana crystals."

"We don’t have that. We have garbage and death. I need you to forge the frames. I’ll provide the spark."

"You want me to fuse steel and bone?" Galleon grinned. He pulled a massive rune-etched hammer from his back. "Say no more."

The dwarf went to work. It was a terrifying display of master-tier crafting.

Galleon didn’t use a furnace. He slammed his hammer against the earth and channeled raw kinetic heat.

He violently beat the rusted rebar and the charred human bones together. He forcefully bent them into jagged hulking humanoid frames.

They were ugly. They were lopsided nightmares of jagged metal spikes and exposed scorched ribcages.

The heads were simply clusters of three or four human skulls welded together.

Galleon stepped back and panted. He admired the fifty empty shells he had hastily forged.

"They are ugly as sin, boss. But they’re sturdy. How are you gonna power ’em? We don’t have soul gems."

"I have a glitch." Sebastian stated flatly.

He walked up to the first massive jagged frame. He didn’t use a high-tier artificer spell.

He dug into his memory and pulled out a basic pathetic Necromancy hex used by beginner warlocks to make dead rats twitch.

[Basic Animation]

Sebastian pressed his hand against the fused cluster of skulls on the frame’s shoulders.

[Action Registered: Cast Basic Animation.]

[Nexus Glitch Activated: Proficiency x10,000.]

The system shrieked as the code was violently stretched to its breaking point.

[Basic Animation leveled up to 10/10! Max Level Reached!]

[Evolution Requirement Met. Basic Animation evolves to Tier 1: Corpse Puppet!]

[Proficiency Overflow Detected! Corpse Puppet leveled up to 10/10!]

[Evolution Requirement Met. Corpse Puppet evolves to Tier 3: Blood-Forged Construct!]

[Proficiency Overflow Detected! Blood-Forged Construct leveled up to 10/10!]

[WARNING: Concept Threshold Breached. Necro-Mechanical Law Unlocked.]

[Blood-Forged Construct evolves to Conceptual Law: Soulforged Animation.]

A pulse of deep crimson light exploded from Sebastian’s palm.

It washed over the fifty empty scrap frames and sank directly into the charred bone and rusted metal.

The courtyard went dead silent.

Then, the skulls began to chatter.

CLACK-CLACK-CLACK.

The empty eye sockets of the skulls ignited with a furious burning red light. The metal gears and rusted rebar ground together with a horrendous screeching sound.

The Scrap Golems rose.

They stood ten feet tall. They weren’t elegant magical statues. They were terrifying amalgamations of industrial waste and human remains.

They were held together by sheer necromantic will. They radiated an aura of pure violence.

"Oh, sweet mother of machinery." Galleon gasped. He dropped to his knees in pure reverence.

Sebastian stepped back. His eyes scanned the abominations. They didn’t have weapons. Their arms ended in jagged rusty hooks and heavy blocks of concrete.

"Let’s test the perimeter defense." Sebastian commanded. He pointed toward the heavy titanium gates of the inner courtyard. "Open them."

Valerie hit the console from a safe distance on the balcony. The gates ground open and exposed the inner courtyard to the devastated outer rubble zone.

The scent of fresh magic immediately drew a crowd.

A pack of twenty massive mutated Demon Rats bounded through the gates. Each was the size of a wolf and their yellow teeth snapped wildly.

The Scrap Golems didn’t wait for orders. The Soulforged Law programmed them for absolute defense.

SKREEEEECH!

The Golems charged. They moved with a terrifying jerky speed. Their heavy concrete feet cracked the marble floor. 𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢

It was an absolute slaughter.

The leading Golem didn’t punch the first Demon Rat. It simply reached down with its rusted rebar claws.

It grabbed the massive rodent by its upper and lower jaws and violently ripped its arms apart.

SNAP! SQUELCH!

The rat was torn entirely in half. A geyser of black blood and intestines rained down over the Golem’s skulls. It painted the rusted metal in fresh gore.

The other Golems crashed into the pack. They stomped on the rats and crushed their spines into paste.

They used their concrete fists to cave in skulls. They painted the walls of the courtyard with violent streaks of red and black.

The rats tried to bite the Golems. But their teeth simply shattered against the thick steel and magically reinforced bone.

In less than ten seconds, the pack was entirely wiped out.

The Golems stood amidst the twitching carnage. Their red eyes burned brightly in the gloom.

Sebastian nodded. He was completely satisfied.

"Galleon." Sebastian said. His voice was flat. "I want a thousand of these on the walls by midnight."

The dwarf practically squealed with joy and hoisted his massive hammer.

"I’ll need more skulls, boss!"

"Don’t worry." Sebastian replied. He looked out at the burning red sky of the ruined city. "The world is about to deliver plenty."