The fourth graders that are involved in the activation all closed their eyes.

Sam is surprised that the students are actually in the frontline while defending against the Elder level opponents. But to think they are actually the first layer of defense is beyond his imagination. The students controlled the golems that came out of the pit.

The golems are mostly humanoid in fact most of them are based off of many races Sam has encountered until now. They are even exact life-size models of those races.

Judging by the way they are positioned, it seems like even those golems are divided into various squads as they moved.

There is a small group of three golems. They are based off of humans and they are wielding spears. All three of them are focused on only one opponent. As they lunged forward and attacked the opponent from three sides, Sam thought they would be done for.

Only at that moment, from underneath the ground, some kind of black sludge appeared. Exactly from under the foot of the opponent and latched on to it.

His attack missed and the three golems have a free hit. They landed it without a miss and the opponent was taken down. The next thing Sam saw made him feel excited and wary at the same time. The sludge that came out of the ground completely enveloped the elder.

He was still alive, only injured, but he was overpowered.

The golems kept him from using his strength while the sludge completely surrounded him. Before anyone could even help him, the ground opened up and swallowed him along with that black sludge and the opening was closed completely.

Just like that, the elder was disappeared and the golems went after another person.

Of course, not all encounters are a success like that. Some golems were instantly taken down by the opponents. However, as soon as they were broken, the black sludge swallowed up the golem instead of the opponent and disappeared into the ground.

Sam frowned.

This is the first time he came across the sludge like that. The golems did seem a little familiar, but at the same time vastly different. Most familiar is the strategy that they are fighting with. The defense is something Sam would have set up.

If Sam was defending the academy, he would have definitely put up an external barrier first and as soon as it fails, the first line of defense would definitely be something miscellaneous. Some ideas off the top of his head would be some puppets, or some undead.

If he goes with undead, he would put all kinds of the undead and also an undead ring, that will turn the dead enemies into undead as well.

The physical undead will be the eye-catchers, the shadow undead will be elusive attackers and the soul undead will be the hidden weapons.

The golems are there, and the black sludge that was in the pit is travelling from underground and is helping out the golems.

Apart from the Elder Nian being the guard, he would have done something similar to this, if he has a large amount of material that is suitable to make golems.

Of course, there is one more addition that he would have done…

His thoughts came to a sudden halt and then he noticed something. From the pit that was around the academy walls, a golem climbed up once again. Upon observing it, he realized that it is the same golem that was destroyed by the opponents just a couple of minutes ago.

The broken parts were all joined together with the black sludge and the golem is healing at a visible rate, all the while it went to attack the opponents again.

And that is not all.

Sam noticed that at one particular spot, where the golems are having a hard time, which is also where one of the strongest opponents is present, the ground opened up. Instead of just the black sludge. A sludge covered humanoid created crawled up out of the hole.

Sam instantly recognized what it is.

It is one of the opponents that was dragged down by the sludge and it seemed like it was converted into some kind of creature.

"What is that black sludge?

"

Sam couldn't contain his curiosity and turned to Ling Tian.

Who only had a smirk on his face. This is the first time he had seen this much surprise on Sam's face. Even when dealing with gods, the palace of inheritances, even hell, didn't shock Sam too much. He almost went past the phase of shock pretty quickly and acted nonchalant after that.

The only time he was properly surprised to the point curiosity burned him is when he discovered the liquified energy and the energy cells created by that one group of people. Once again, Ling Tian noticed this.

"I can't go into too much detail, because even I don't know much about it. But it is created by one of your seniors that graduated from the Gambler academy. Previously, it used to be an undead ring. But after the golems were added to the defensive line, that senior felt like an upgrade was in order.

So, he used his research to create this.

Now, that sludge covered body is actually an undead, but a very evolved form of it.

"

"Evolved in what way?

"

Even as Sam asked this question, he got the answer in the video.

The undead creature, attacked the opponent, but not just with physical strength, rather it held the sword and performed a proper sword art, just like how the cultivator would have done.

"So, it retains the memories and the skills, along with the meridian network?

"

Sam asked in surprise.

"Yes, most of it. But it is only temporary. We can't let it completely lose control and deal with others after all.

The sludge basically absorbs the soul of the victim and occupies the body. It uses the same techniques as the victim and with improved efficiency. It won't have any qualms about performing kamikaze tactics, taking injuries, etc.

It will fight until the body is completely destroyed.

Of course, that is not all that it could do.

"

"Then what else?

"

"Just keep on observing.

"

Sam looked at the fight.

Soon, after a few more rounds, he understood what Ling Tian was saying.

When the undead creature's dead body was almost done for, the black sludge escaped. But this time, the escaped sludge didn't go back to the pit, instead it latched on to the nearest golem. In an instant, the sludge started spreading over the golem's surface.

And all of a sudden, the golem started attacking with the same techniques as the cultivator before. Now, the golems became stronger like this.

Basically, the golems are collecting the corpses of the weaker targets first, the sludge turned them into undead and attacked the stronger opponents supporting the golems and when the bodies are done for, they absorbed all the memories and techniques before going back to the golems with all of those things increasing the attack power.

This is all the first layer of defense.

Of course, it is not all smooth sailing. The other side just has way too many enemies. Hundreds of them that are fighting and hundreds that are yet to move.

It is not like they didn't want to, but the leaders of the groups are making them stay back to conserve their strength.

It seems like they are extremely wary of the Gambler academy.

Time passed slowly for them, even though the battles are going at full swing.

Even though the Golems initially had an advantage because of their continuous attacks and revival, more and more people joined the battle from the other side and soon the advantage reduced a great deal.

Particularly the revival time played a key role. Also, no substance no matter how much it was charged with energy and how good its recharging capacity is, will not be able to go on forever.

The black sludge started to slow down.

The attackers finally managed to bypass them and started crossing over the pit.

Nian retreated by now to take rest.

"Second level Guardians activated. First level guardians retreating. Healing and Recovery Team required to go forward. Secure the guardians.

"

The fourth graders that were controlling the golems and the sludge all came back along with Nian, while the second level guardians stepped forward.

To Sam's surprise, there are fourth graders even in this group. Albeit very few of them, including Dove. They are all the cream of the crop.

At the same time, most of the guardians are the academy instructors. Only one elder who held a saber is standing in the middle.

He took over the position of Elder Nian and they even high-fived as Nian retreated as if they are passing the baton.

"Third Level Guardians please be on standby

"

Now, the low-level elders stepped forward and took their stand by position.

"Who devised this strategy?

"

Sam asked Ling Tian.

"The actual defensive measures were created by the people of the academy across various generations. But the actual strategy was given to them by Gambler. In a way, you couldn't even say that it was given actually. It was a result of his teachings and numerous simulated iterations.

"