A wide array of choices were displayed before us.

Buttons of various colors, signifying different functions were waiting to be used.

I looked at the two girls, eager and waiting for me to tell them when and how to start.

“Okay, I guess I’ll run you through what to do.”

I glanced and spotted the Demon General who was still staring at my huge Golem with shock and fright written on his face.

He had come too far to back down at this point, and even if he did, there would only be a harsh consequence for failure.

Death would be merciful in comparison.

“Well, why don’t I teach you the basics.” Seeing that my opponent couldn’t run anywhere, I could take my time to tutor the girls a little on how to control such a sophisticated construct.

“This could take a while.”

*************************

How long had he been standing there? Darik had no idea.

He was too busy shaking in his boots to count the moments he spent in fear and anxiety.

Having a rather stout and muscular figure, Darik resembled a turtle with quite a shell and scaly appendages.

Rather than flabby arms, though, he had rather muscular ones.

His shell also had spikes sticking out, and his green-colored skin was one of the hardest of this race.

Despite being a powerful member of the Demon Society—as well as the leader of the thousand Demon Beasts behind him—Darik couldn’t make a single move.

The Demon General’s gaze had been on one single location for longer than he could count—the massive Golem that was in front of him.

‘J-just what is that…?’

Darik, unlike his colleagues among the Nine Stars, knew how weak he was.

He was well aware of his limits in the Demon Society, and he had no intention of changing his position in the status quo.

He was neither too strong nor too weak.

He had managed to claw his way to the rank of Demon General and had no intention of going further than that.

For him, his rank was just a necessary measure for survival.

Respect was awarded to the strong in his society, and since he had achieved quite a high position, he was guaranteed a good life.

Perhaps that was why he slacked off most of the time.

‘I don’t need anything more than this.’ That was his philosophy.

Even when they were to be deployed to invade enemy land, he had been sent to the weakest location—the Western Border of the Elf Kingdom.

Darik had been pleased beyond words—happy to simply slack off and execute his duties with as minimal effort as possible.

That was what he was expecting.

“B-but, what the hell is this…?” The rat-like Demon squeaked in the presence of a true giant.

After locking gazes with the massive Golem for so long, locked in a standstill, Darik finally decided on the next course of action.

‘Maybe… maybe we should advance…?’

As he thought this, the Golem whirred to life, causing his entire body to jump in shock.

“Hiyeeeee!!!”

The Golem’s left leg moved, raised higher than Darok could see beyond. It seemed like the ray of the sun was blocked by that single leg raise.

Then, a thought popped into his mind as he marveled at the 60-meter plus Golem.

‘S-**… it’s gonna crush us?!’

If the monstrosity before him so wished, it could crush quite a number of Demon Beasts with a single stomp.

However—

>BOOOM<

—It seemed Darik’s worries were for nothing.

The left leg returned to the ground, causing the earth to shake for a bit.

Then—

“Hiyeeeee!!!”

—The right leg moved this time.

“… Eh…?”

After a few seconds, the right leg returned to its previous position.

The next movement of the Golem was the right hand. Then, the left hand. Afterward, the head turned left and right.

‘What’s going on?’

Repeating the process, the frightening Golem did the same thing as before.

‘It’s not going to attack?’ Darik was now utterly confused.

If the massive construct had made a predictable move, then perhaps he would have been able to respond accordingly. But, the movements he was seeing currently were too haphazard and abrupt.

In all honesty, Darik thought the sight reminded him of how a child learned how to walk or move their body.

It was that pathetic and bizarre.

‘C-could it be…?!’ Suddenly, a thought manifested in his turtle-like head.

Could it be that the Golem was malfunctioning? Yes, that had to be the case.

There was no way an enemy with such a weapon of mass destruction would be doing stretches for so long.

‘T-then, that means this stuff is only supposed to scare us away. Yes! That has to be it!’ Once he figured out the plans of the enemy, Darik regained his confidence in a heartbeat.

His charisma returned, and his sunken face popped back up in resolve.

He now had the appearance of a proper Demon General.

“My soldiers, keep marchi—”

>BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!!!!<

An explosion erupted from behind him, decimating a huge chunk of the sea the Demons had traversed to arrive at the land of the Elves.

Waters parted and formed a massive void at the center.

Thick clouds ascended and a seething hiss of the devastated body of water spread.

The tremor of the blast was enough to once again petrify Darik.

‘S-such firepower!’

The Golem had targeted the sea behind him, threatening Darik and his army about what would become of them if they made a single move.

It was possible that they just missed, but there was no way an opponent as powerful as the one he was facing could be so careless.

‘Would I be able to survive such a blast?’ Darik wasn’t so sure.

It was a 50

/50 chance, but wasn’t the type to take risks.

‘Ngh… what should I do?’

The Demon Beasts behind him would mindlessly obey his commands, so he could simply send a few of them to test the waters.

‘But, I don’t want to provoke it…’ Stuck in this endless loop of deliberation, Darik finally got to the end of the tunnel.

And so, he made his choice.