Heir of Synthesis: The World Mage

Priam’s eyes widened as he realized how fast everything was happening. At the Leopard’s terrifying speed, there was simply no way he’d make it to his trap in time!

With no other choice, Priam took off at full speed.

But the Leopard was absurdly fast. He was still a hundred meters away from his trap when he felt the monster closing in right behind him.

”Damn it, four legs really are better than two!” Priam cursed as he spun around on his heels.

He pulled out a simple bow from his inventory and fired one of his precious poisoned arrows at the beast.

The Leopard instinctively sensed the danger coming from the toxin coating the arrowhead. Startled, it stopped for an instant and jerked to the side to dodge. That brief pause gave Priam the chance to catch his breath as he kept running.

*ROAR!*

The Corrupted Beast roared again and resumed the chase, this time pushing its speed even higher.

’There goes another poisoned arrow wasted...’ Priam lamented inwardly. He had no idea if he’d ever find another beast with venom that good, so every single arrow mattered.

But as he realized he was finally approaching his trap, an immense sense of relief washed over him.

Rushing forward, he channeled a bit of Ether directly into the daggers that acted as the locking mechanism.

The moment he cleared the trap’s range, Priam spun around and fired another arrow.

The Leopard instinctively slowed down, forced to dodge the arrow carrying that terrifying venom.

It was in that exact split second of hesitation that Priam activated the daggers locking the bows.

*TAK-TAK-TAK-TAK-TAK-TAK!*

Six arrows shot out like bolts of lightning, striking the Corrupted Beast head-on. Its body was so massive that all six arrows hit without the slightest chance of missing.

Normally, ordinary arrows like those would’ve had an incredibly hard time piercing the defenses of an enemy at that level.

But that creature had originally been nothing more than an ordinary beast—the kind that any Mage Disciple like Priam could kill with ease.

Its overwhelming strength had been borrowed from the corruption, forcing its body far beyond its natural limits. That process left countless flaws in both its physical structure and its offensive capabilities.

In this Leopard’s case, because it specialized in speed and offense, its defenses had one glaring weakness: its abdomen.

Its defensive strength there was relatively unstable. Priam had noticed that immediately when he saw the monster sleeping, so naturally, he had positioned the arrows to strike that exact spot.

Even so, despite being its weakest point, the six arrows only pierced the skin slightly, failing to sink even a single centimeter deep.

That kind of wound would’ve meant practically nothing...

...if not for the horrifyingly concentrated venom Priam had created.

The moment the arrows pierced its flesh, Priam could see with the naked eye that the surrounding flesh immediately turned pitch black. It was the effect of the toxin’s intense corrosion.

Feeling a sharp pain in its abdomen, the Corrupted Beast roared furiously and charged at Priam.

*BOOM!*

Priam didn’t hesitate to unleash Sky-Rending Wind, blocking the creature’s attack—which was already clearly much weaker than it should’ve been.

A violent wave of wind and power blasted outward, sending every rock nearby flying into the air.

’What a damn monstrous attack!’ Priam thought in shock.

Even weakened, this Corrupted Beast still possessed slightly greater offensive power than he did.

Any Mage would’ve been completely dead if they had faced this Leopard head-on at full strength. Especially him, considering he was still only at the Mages’ Middle Rank.

As the dust settled...

**BUZZ!!**

The Leopard suddenly opened its mouth. A crimson sphere slowly formed inside its throat.

A terrifying pressure froze Priam in place.

”HOLY SHIT!”

Priam was stunned. Besides its insane speed and overwhelming physical attack power, this Corrupted Beast also possessed a devastating ranged attack!

When that red sphere first appeared, it was only the size of a human head. But in the blink of an eye, it expanded to several meters across.

Then, space itself trembled as the crimson sphere shot forward.

Priam didn’t hesitate for even a second and turned to run. He might still have been weaker than this poisoned Leopard, but at the very least, he trusted his speed enough to run for his life.

**KBOOOOM!!**

The entire forest shook as the ground was blasted into the air.

Priam felt as though an entire mountain had slammed into his back. Even after dodging at the last second, the explosion’s residual force alone hurled him through the air, making him cough up blood.

When he crashed into the side of a massive mountain, Priam spat out another mouthful of blood, feeling as though many of his bones were on the verge of breaking.

’That was way too close...’

he thought, forcing himself to stay conscious. He possessed Nature’s power to heal his wounds, but if he were killed outright—or knocked unconscious by a powerful enough attack—he obviously wouldn’t be able to heal and would simply die.

As the dust finally settled, the Leopard let out another furious roar.

The moment Priam saw the fury burning in his enemy’s eyes, he swallowed both the pain and the blood that kept rising into his throat, then ran without a second thought.

He didn’t even have time to heal.

The Leopard chased after him furiously. Fortunately, the venom was rapidly corroding its body, causing both its physical strength and speed to drop dramatically.

Earlier, it had been far faster than Priam. Now, its speed was exactly the same as his.

That was an excellent sign for Priam. As he ran, the Leopard chased him as fast as it could, but its speed gradually kept decreasing.

While fleeing, Priam carefully assessed the situation.

’That’s it, buddy... just one more step and you’ll catch me... Yeah, right!’ Priam mocked inwardly.

This Corrupted Beast really wasn’t very intelligent.

Seeing the Leopard slowing down, Priam deliberately slowed his own pace as well, maintaining the same distance so the beast would think it could catch him if it just pushed a little harder.

That way, Priam made the monster run in circles around its own territory.

He didn’t dare leave the area, knowing he might attract other Corrupted Beasts—and that would definitely be a disaster.

Priam kept up that exhausting dance for nearly half an hour.

The Leopard was finally reaching its limit. It was already limping and staggering with its organs being eaten away by the venom, yet it continued chasing him through pure instinct alone.

Priam himself was completely exhausted, feeling as though he had almost no Ether left. All he could do was grit his teeth and keep running.

’If this oversized cat doesn’t drop dead in the next ten seconds, I’m the one who’s going to die from exhaustion...’ he thought with a weary sigh.

*Thud!*

Finally, the Corrupted Beast collapsed onto the ground, too weak to stand.

Seeing that, Priam also dropped to the ground where he was, sitting on the dirt as he breathed heavily, completely out of breath.

’Damn... every Beast is an unparalleled difficulty... IT SUCKS BEING WEAK!!’

He cursed inwardly, exhausted and frustrated.

But if anyone in the sect knew that a mere Mage Disciple had already killed two Corrupted Beasts capable of easily defeating a Sage, they’d be shocked to death.

After taking a few deep breaths, Priam got back to his feet.

He walked over to the Leopard’s body, drew a dagger, and went straight for the beast core located in the center of its chest.

Unfortunately, the entire physical body had already been naturally corrupted.

Priam had already realized that using corrupted materials was like handling something radioactive. No Mage could make use of anything corrupted without infecting their own body.

Because of that, the corpse was completely worthless.

If the Corrupted Beast had been venomous, there still could’ve been some use for it, like before. But that wasn’t the case this time.

The beast core, however, might still be useful.

The giant worm from before had lost half its body, and its beast core had disappeared. This time, though, he could finally examine one.

Inside the creature’s chest, Priam found a sphere about the size of a fist.

It wasn’t a physical object, but rather a condensation formed from the Common Beast’s bloodline energy. After the body died, that core would remain for several days before disappearing completely.

’It’s corrupted too... I can’t use this beast energy, but...’

Priam muttered inwardly as he noticed a tiny trace of an extremely powerful and abnormal energy inside the core.

It was like looking at a glass full of water with a single drop of oil floating inside it, unable to mix with the rest.

’Is this what’s corrupting the Beasts? Most likely.’

Since that energy made up only an incredibly tiny fraction of the core, Priam decided to isolate it and store it away for later study.

The rest of the beast core was discarded, along with the creature’s entire corpse.

Then he stood up and took a deep breath.

The Leopard’s entire territory was now free and relatively safe... at least for a while.

He could explore every inch of the area in search of treasures.

Even though he felt much safer now, Priam had no intention of taking unnecessary risks.

Anything living in this place was perfectly capable of killing him the moment he let his guard down.

So he activated Divine Concealment once again and began exploring the area, moving silently and with extreme caution.

...

A few minutes later, Priam was still carefully scouting the area when he reached the top of a very tall mountain.

At that moment, whether by luck or fate, he spotted a person in the distance.

His eyes widened.

Without wasting a second, he immediately hid himself.

At that instant, an instinctive feeling gripped his chest.

He could clearly feel an overwhelming, deadly pressure settling onto his back.

That figure...

It definitely wasn’t here with good intentions.

’Fuck... they sent someone who’s almost a Sage to kill me?’