[Few moments later: Camp]

"Really?! None of you found anything?!" – asked confused and bit angry elderly elf guild master who was leading the operation.

"Nope. We already went over its mate. But none of found anything." – said the man in the hood.

"If anything, that forest was straight up swarming with the golems the moment you went in."

"Even when we were sneaking around, we barely had any room to breathe."

"Not only that, it seems the golems became bit more active…. It seems they had sensed the army's presence."

"Much faster than I've expected…. Fuck." – said the guild master to himself.

"…But you truly couldn't find anything?"

"Nope." – replied the female scout.

"I have somewhat good mana detection skill."

"And from what I was told, the golems operate on mana and the explosion was apparently magic based."

"I've checked the ground and trees, but I've found nothing."

"Be it with detection or by looking directly at surroundings."

"Nothing."

"But I do have something to report."

"?"

"What did you found?" – asked alarmed guild master.

"Well, there are two things."

"One thing is that some of the golems that I've found were damaged."

"Like, some were even partially destroyed."

"Same here. I even saw a golem without arm just walking around." – said the hooded man.

"Oh, so we weren't the only ones?" – asked the cat beastwoman.

"Maybe somebody attacked this forest before? Like before we came here?"

"Unlikely. The soldiers were keeping watch all the time around the forest…. If anything, it may be other way around." – said guild master

"These golems aren't really living creatures and they need a help from different party in order to get repaired."

"Therefore, these golems are probably from back then when Garmfon kingdom attempted conquering the forest."

(Honestly this is good news.) – thought the guild master.

(These golems almost gotten exterminated by the Garmfon kingdom; therefore, these old golems must be at the brink of death…. Exterminating those golems will be easy.)

"….Okay, this is good news…. But what about the second thing? You said that you found two things to note." - said the guild master as he turned towards the female scout.

"Yea." – said the female scout.

"Before I've started heading back on my end, I had a weird encounter with some golem that I didn't seen before."

"It was much smaller and thinner."

"Long limbs with long fingers and toes."

"And it had some sort of eye head. Like it had a gemlike eye that covered its entire face, maybe the entire thing all together."

"Honestly, just starting at that thing I've realized that its goal isn't like fighting, but more like hiding? Its appearance was somewhat hidden, like it was blending in amongst the trees and stuff."

"A camouflage."

"All other golems did not have anything like that, only this weird small big-eyed guy had it."

"It also jumped around from one tree to another. It was quite obvious that it also moved in much different way compare to the other golems."

"…"

(Big eyed…. Small golem?) – thought worried guild master.

(There was nothing like this in reports…. By any chance a new type of golem has been produced by the dungeon?)

"How many of these things did you saw?" – asked the elf.

"Only one. This was the only guy that stood out amongst the golems and everything." – replied female scout.

"…."

"?"

"Wait." – said the hooded adventurer.

"You said they were jumping from tree to tree, right?"

"And from what we were told, some of the bombs suddenly started falling down from the sky…. By any chance, are these guys the one behind the bombing? Are they like what? Throwing bombs?"

"!"

"Wait…. Shit. You maybe right." – said alarmed guild master.

(So, the bombs weren't traps, but more like "direct attack"?)

"Say, did you confirmed if that thing had any bombs on it?" – asked the guild master.

"Nope. I didn't seen anything like that… Although I was also trying to stay hidden and stuff, so there is chance that it had something but I couldn't see it?" – replied not so sure female scout.

"…"

"Well, whatever it was…. We at least gotten some proper information…. But for now, it is for the best if we prepare." – said the guild master as he turned towards one of the soldiers.

"Hey! Raise the alarm level! The golems seem to be wary of our existence!"

"There is good chance that these bastards would come here! So, make sure everybody is ready for combat!"

"Yes sir!" – replied the soldier before then running off.

"…"

(They are here.) – thought Thauma as it used its scout golem to spot from afar the army of adventurers.

(I knew they wouldn't give up…. And this time they are acting different as well.)

(They sent some people into the forest…. And they were weird.)

(They suddenly disappeared. I couldn't find them anywhere…. I knew they entered the forest, but I've quickly lost sight of most of them.)

(I think they are people that specializes in 'stealth' type skills…. Annoying.)

(Keeping watch on these kinds of people will be problematic…. But why they didn't do anything?)

(Honestly, I've had my golems start moving around in order to try and find the hiding people or see if they planted anything like bomb… But there is nothing?)

(….)

(Answer.)

(The enemy was trying to scout out the territory.)

(They were either worried about golems, bombs or possible new traps being placed, if not all the above.)

(Well, I doubt they would get too deep into the forest, since even if they can hide well, they can't exactly avoid the detection when golems are straight up everywhere.)

(And if they had set their foot inside of the dungeon, I would have noticed.)

(Still… I can't really tell what the enemy army consist off…. Adventurers? Garmfon kingdom? Mowiorano kingdom? Maybe something else?)

(….Soon or later, I will see what the enemy have to offer.)

Mowiorano kingdom camp was set up, finally managing to obtain a proper base near the golem forest…. And yet, the golems did not show any signs of aggression just yet.

But even so, the adventurers didn't let their guard down, as they understood that like before, it won't be a small-scale brawl, but once again a proper war.

Mowiorano kingdom sent scouts into the forest few times into the enemy territory, trying to find out anything about the enemy movement or the bombs…. However unfortunately for them, they found nothing about the bombs even after multiple attempts.

However, they realized that the longer they waited, the more active the golems would become.

"….And with that being said… I want everybody opinion on this matter." – said the guild master.

"I wasn't here during the operation last time, but you all were…. So, I want your honest opinion about the situation." – asked the guild master as several adventurers that were part of the last extermination quest had gathered for a meeting.

"…Honestly…. These things are annoying." – said the thunder mage.

"Yea. Numbers, durability and attack power. They have it all." – said the elven fire archer.

"If it wasn't for the fact that these things don't have mind of its own, their entire danger rank would increase by at least 1 to 2 ranks."

"However, even though we say that…. There was definitely something commanding these monsters."

"They are not wrong. When we came here during winter, these golems were hiding in the snow."

"The snow by now has completely melted away and they can't use that tactic anymore… But would something as mindless as these things just set up a trap on their own?" – asked a bear beastman adventurer.

"Some people are saying that these 3 giant knights were the ones giving the commands…. But I honestly don't think so? They were moving somewhat similar to other golems and stuff."

"If they were really the leaders, then why they were fighting the same patterned way?"

"…"

"Do you all agree to it? That exist something akin to a leader to these things?" – asked the guild master.

"Well…." – adventurers were bit hesitate to answer the question, but one by one some players started agreeing or just nodding their heads.

"…"

"I understand." – said guild master.

"By the way, about that golem I've told you few moments about."

"The small eye thing guy?" – asked Adam.

"No. I don't think anybody has saw it…. If somebody did, then they would have spoken up by now."

"So it may be really just a new golem type…. Or it may had been the golem that threw down the bombs in the first place." – said guild master.

"…"

(Well, this isn't a good start.) – thought guild master.

(I've thought we would find something more "secure", like some important details and such…. But we couldn't find the enemy bombs or any traps that were set up throughout the forest.)

(The only enemies are golems and that didn't change…. But there is also that mysterious small golem.)

(Is it by any chance the golem that is throwing the bombs?)

(Or by any chance, it is the golem that gives commands to the other golems? A leader?)

(….)

(Either way, we already used up all of our time and we can't delay the attack any longer.)

"Start up the preparations." – said the guild master.

"It is time for us to finally start up the missions."

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.