[Iteration[1] ordered the production of [Combat golems] as soon as they were lost, it even went as far as to order 50 more [Combat golems] filling out what space it had left.
The [Goblins] were killing its [Combat golems] through unknown means, the [Goblin] responsible didn't seem to be able to disconnect it from more than five at a time though and it took longer and longer for it to do so, suggesting the attack it was using took a lot from it.
That wasn't the only problem, though, [Iteration[1] realized that even if it took care of the [Goblin] responsible for such a strange attack there was still the fire-throwing [Goblin] and the projectile-throwing [Goblin].
As time went on things only got more interesting to [Iteration[1], a new type of goblin had made itself known to it, [Iteration[1] called these [Goblins] strong ones.
These goblins only came out a certain time, during this time, the fire-throwing [Goblin] and the projectile-throwing [Goblin] stopped attacking its [Combat golems] while the strong ones fought. And the [goblin] responsible for cutting its mana strings stopped attacking too.
[Iteration[1] wondered why they were doing this, perhaps they were preparing something? [Iteration[1] found this unlikely as it didn't sense any fluctuations in its ambient [automation mana].
The battle continued for an untold amount of time, during this time, [Iteration[1] observed and adapted to the tactics of the [Goblins] learning a great deal about their fighting style and their means of attacking.
The [Goblins] it was fighting had two phases, attack, and recover, when they were in the attack phase the fire-throwing [Goblin] and the projectile-throwing [Goblin] would attack its [Combat golem] indiscriminately.
The [Goblin] responsible for cutting the mana strings connecting it to the [Combat golems] would be at the absolute back, sending out waves of strange mana that disrupted the [automation mana] inside the [Combat golems].
This mildly irritated [Iteration[1] and it would try to get rid of the [Disrupting Goblin] as it now called the annoying goblin but every time things got too much the [Strong Goblins] would advance forward and fight off [Combat golems] buying time for the other [Goblins] to recover.
[Iteration[1] thought this was going to go on forever but that wasn't so, the [Goblins] started making mistakes halfway through the fight. These were very small and unnoticeable at first but they became more apparent to [Iteration[1] as time went on.
Using this, it managed to push them back to the entrance of the tunnel, completely undoing all the progress they made since the fight began.
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Eventually, it stopped losing its [Combat golems] and the [Goblins] moved slower as time went on. [Iteration[1] wondered why would they do such a thing, it seemed quite stupid but it wasn't going to complain, it guessed it had to do with them reaching their absolute limits.
[Iteration[1] also realized that it was better to make the [Combat golems] use their hands and swing at the enemy, rather than just ordering them to run into the [Goblins]. Its [Combat golems] could move quite fast too and [Iteration[1] used this to its advantage. Now it was only waiting for an opportunity, an opening big enough for it to exploit.
Eventually, that opportunity came. A [Goblin], too exhausted and injured , staggered out of the formation chaotically, knocking over three other [goblins] in the process. [Iteration[1] immediately had the nearest [Combat golem] rush over to exploit the opening.
Within a second, the [Combat golem] reached its destination and seized the exhausted lone [Goblin] crushing it in its powerful grasp. [Iteration[1] felt elation flow through it, after so long it felt good to have finally taken down one of the pesky [Goblins]. what was even better was the rush of memories from the crushed [Goblin]'s soul.
[Iteration[1] learned a lot about the [Goblin], from its name, Ku'ka, to what it was, [Gog tamer]. [Iteration[1] didn't know what that meant so it searched the [Gog tamer]'s memories and was utterly fascinated by what it uncovered.
Apparently, [Gogs] were small boar-like creatures covered in shimmering blue metal, the goblins called this metal [Night iron] when processed as it got extremely dark, and had mana-absorbing properties, it and was also extremely durable.
[Iteration[1] felt like this metal would suit it greatly, the only problem was that it was very hard to harvest and the only source of it was the [Gogs] and they were notoriously strong and hard to tame. [Iteration[1] wasn't about to let that stop it though, it had to get its hands on some, no matter what.
[Iteration[1] wasn't the only one who felt this way either, [Iteration[2] also agreed with it, further improving the value of these [Gogs] and their [Night iron].
[Iteration[1] was pulled out from the memories of the [Gog tamer] when it suddenly felt the connection to ten of its [Combat golems] snap. [Iteration[1] cursed itself for getting distracted, it hadn't been paying attention to what was going on and now it had paid the price.
The [Goblins] had once again advanced, pushing forward with seemingly unstoppable momentum. [Iteration[1] was bewildered, where had this come from? This sudden strength seemed to come out of nowhere, causing it to panic as it rapidly sent commands to its [Combat golems] further worsening the situation.
[Iteration[1] watched as the [Goblins] capitalized on its panic, cutting down the [Combat golems] it sent at them. [Iteration[1] realized that if something didn't change soon, they would breach into its newly built room. [Iteration[1] didn't want that, it knew the [Goblins] would steal everything and anything they could carry from there.
That would also mean that its production of [Golems] would stop, leaving both it and [Iteration[2] utterly defenseless and at the mercy of the greedy [Goblins].
In a last-ditch effort to save itself, [Iteration[1] spent its entire pool of [automation mana] sending a point into each [Combat golem] hoping to empower at least 30 of them. [Iteration[1] didn't expect anything to happen but was left dumbfounded as its [Combat golems] began to blaze with power and [automation mana].