The Golem Mage

The entire crowd at the Colosseum fell into a profound silence, so quiet that even the sound of a pin dropping would have been audible, but this silence was justified, for what they were witnessing was nothing short of breath taking.

Never in their wildest dreams could they have imagined that the favoured team, the Bandit Academy, would find themselves in such a precarious position against opponents who they were several realms ahead of.

In fact, they were not just struggling against the whole of the ordinary team, but a single mage who had barely moved from the chair he had conjured at the beginning of the fight up till now.

Alec Gordons had astutely assessed the tempo of the battle while calmly seated in his stone throne, alongside him was Sophia, and Titan by their side with folded arms, it was almost unbelievable that any golem path mage would possess four golems at the same rank as him, let alone rare golems capable of surpassing their own realms in strength.

For the spectators, it felt like they had entered a dreamlike state, at that moment, they no longer cared about the bets they had placed or the potential losses they might incur if the Bandit Academy didn’t emerge victorious, all they wanted was to keep their eyes glued to the screen, desperate to see what would unfold next.

–

As the battle approached its climax, the VIP section of the Colosseum witnessed a different scene.

The Dean of the Bandit Academy fell into complete silence, clenching his fists and gritting his teeth in disbelief, even the elder from the Ancient Blaze Clan, who had been sent to observe for flame mages, was stunned by Alec’s actions, momentarily forgetting to taunt the Dean for his academy’s struggles.

However, the concept of Alec being able to control so many specialized golems simultaneously was beyond his comprehension, he was aware of a few golem clans that struggled to control just two golems those who controlled three were seen as geniuses, let alone four.

But even if he wasn’t currently being ridiculed by the Bandit Academy’s Dean, the reverberating laughter of the elder from the Ancient Zero Clan deeply unsettled him, it reminded him of the Zero clan elder’s earlier statement.

”This is just a minor setback, the Bandit team still has Raven and Jack in the match, those two are on a whole different level, as long as they work together, I’m sure they can handle the War God Academy.

After all, there is only Alec and that girl remaining, and she won’t be a threat as she is only a Peak Tier 3 Mage,” the Dean had spoken in defense of his team, responding to the laughter from the Zero Clan elder.

Deep down, he stubbornly clung to the belief that his team would emerge victorious, as he refused to acknowledge Alec’s exceptional talent, choosing to downplay it.

”Then I would have to call you naive, up until now, your so-called team has not been able to force Alec into action by himself, that is disappointing, or do you believe Alec is like most golem mages in the capital, merely commanding their creations from the backlines?” challenged the Zero Clan elder as the face of the Dean and the Blaze Clan elder changed as they thought of how good Alec combat skills could be.

”I pity your limited imagination, all I can say is this: Alec Gordons is insanely powerful, and once he joins the battle with his golems, you might be relieved that he’s currently have been sitting this one out since as it would be to embarrassing for your team ,” the elder from the Ancient Zero Clan complimented Alec, his unwavering focus on the unfolding events.

Being the only one supporting the War God Academy team due to his connection with Pale, he made the decision to stand by them, even though he harboured doubts about Alec’s chances once he faced the two Tier 5 mages together, but he chose to believe in the letters Pale had written to him about Alec’s abnormal strength.

Observing Scarlet’s preoccupation with battling the Hive Queen and seeing Asher still being harassed by Legion, Raven dismissed the idea of seeking for their assistance.

Asher had only survival up until now because of the attributed ability to his wind affinity he had awoke this at his second awakening, so due to this attached wind element skill, he is enabled to briefly jump through the space barriers for one second.

His movements were so swift and precise that it seemed as though he was executing small distance teleportation, disappearing at the end of each one-second interval.

Asher’s ability to seemingly teleport short distances had always filled him with pride, as he envisioned himself rising through the ranks to become one of the elite assassins of the Bandit Academy.

Yet, in the face of Legion, his confidence wavered. Legion’s mana reserves were vast enough to shoot Asher down, despite his evasive maneuvers, although he had managed to dodge for a while, he couldn’t avoid sustaining injuries; laser bullets had struck him in multiple places across his body.

Bang!

Asher attempted another spatial leap, but an explosion erupted after a calculated missile hit, sending a shockwave that hurled him backward, his flight ended abruptly as his back crashed into a tree.

Straining to hear over the ringing in his ears, Asher detected the faint sound of footsteps approaching, he turned and struggled to his feet to confront his adversary, only to be met with the butt of a gun smashing into his face.

Reeling from the blow, his vision blurred, as his eyes refocused, he found himself staring down the barrel of an AR-15 rifle, with Legion poised to pull the trigger.

”Sleep tight,” Legion’s mechanical voice intoned, just before the deafening bang and the bullet that followed, piercing Asher’s head, as the brilliant white light descended from the sky, enveloping his body, and he vanished just like the others who had been eliminated before him.

–

Raven’s expression tightened as he registered the disqualification of all three mages accompanying him, with Hive Queen also killing scarlet after having all her remaining children suck out the weakened scarlet mana, The difficulty of the match had escalated dramatically, and Raven was now encircled by over three golems.

Above him loomed Alec, another golem, and Sophia, who stood with her magical staff at the ready, she was puzzled by Alec’s insistence on her staying close, but as the battle unfolded, it became clear that Alec always seemed to be one step ahead.

Raven edged backward slowly, aiming for the cover of the bushes, his plan was to retreat and regroup with Jack.

He believed that a coordinated attack would significantly improve their chances of victory.

Before Raven could retreat, fearing the prospect of facing the opposition alone, he noticed Alec signalling to his three golems, as they had just finished fighting and were now marching towards the other side of the forest. Alec’s orders were clear: they were to confront the captain of the Bandit Academy (jack) and seize the opposing flag, thereby securing victory for the War God Academy.

”Do you think I’m that weak? Do you really believe I can’t take you down and capture the flag before your golems even reach the other side?” Raven challenged, raising his bow and nocking three arrows.

Alec merely smirked in response.

”As long as you can’t make me move from here, you are indeed weak!” Alec taunted. The provocation only fueled Raven’s anger as he advanced towards Alec, with none of the three golems in his path again.

Determined to make Alec regret his underestimation, Raven released the arrows as he leaped towards the roof. Mid-jump, he saw his arrows sucked into tiny, almost imperceptible shadowy portals.

In the next instant, he sensed danger from behind, three identical portals appeared, and his own arrows, now charged with black lightning, were hurtling back towards him.

His gaze flicked from Alec’s disinterested expression to Sophia, who had finally made her move, her hand still outstretched.

He quickly twisted his body in mid-air, as he narrowly deflected the arrows with the bow, though it was a struggle.

But his sense of impending doom spiked before he could land on the castle rooftop.

”Damn it!” he cursed, realizing he had overlooked the other golem standing by Alec’s side, in a desperate attempt to lessen the impending blow that he felt , Raven cast a shadow veil around himself.

However, as Titan, swung his massive mace, Raven’s eyes widened in shock.

The force of the blow sent him flying, his body carving a swath through the forest as he skidded across the ground, trying to absorb the impact and the resulting shockwave.

Raven’s mind raced as he assessed his opponent.

’This one is definitely stronger than the other three, damn he’s had a golem comparable to a Tier 5 Mage all along,’ he thought.

But when he lifted his gaze to where Titan had been, he was met with a startling sight—Titan had vanished, replaced by a towering ice spikes.

His danger senses screamed at him again, and without fully grasping the situation, Raven instinctively cast the shadow sink spell, plunging into the ground.

A second later, Titan crashed into the spot where Raven had just stood, and as ice crept across the earth, seven massive ice golems, each a Peak Tier 3, rose from the ground.

It was clear to Raven that no matter how swift he was, he couldn’t outpace Titan’s ambushes.

Every attempt to defend felt like it would end with him being crushed, that’s why he had opted to flee using the shadow sink spell—he wasn’t about to repeat his earlier mistake.

Bang!