The Golem Mage

The whip lashed at Alec from the left, forcing him to raise his left arm up in defence as he used his right to support the left also, though he braced himself for the strike, however the impact still stung so deeply that it pierced through his thick hide.

The pain was sharp, but not enough to halt his momentum, Alec pushed forward, launching two quick jabs, the caterpillar lady dodged them with ease, countering with a left palm strike aimed at his chest in return.

As her hand thrust forward, Alec noticed a slight shift in her armour, tiny gaps opened along the guard on her left arm, extending up toward her shoulder.

Without hesitation, Alec deflected her strike with his left hand, then drove his right claws straight into the opening.

His attack tore through with surprising ease, sinking deep and drawing a pained grimace from the caterpillar lady, her expression twisted, revealing that despite her formidable defences, her tolerance for pain was unusually low.

Alec considered it natural, because creatures born with such powerful protection often grew up facing little that could truly hurt them, aside from enemies vastly stronger than themselves.

But Alec didn’t care for logic, his only thought was to dig deeper, to pierce straight into her heart, yet the armour around his claws constricted tightly, trapping his hand and preventing him from pushing further, the lady caterpillar flexed her right arm, and the whip in her grasp began to retract.

With each bone segment snapping together in sequence, until the weapon reshaped into a massive bone great sword, jagged and uneven along its edges, however the blade still radiated a menacing aura.

And now, she intended to drive its tip straight into Alec’s skull.

Just as she prepared to thrust her weapon forward, a blue soul chain coiled around her right arm and yanked it back violently, her eyes trembled, she didn’t even need to look to know the pull was strong enough to stop her from finishing Alec.

She quickly tried to compensate by striking with her free left hand, which was already close to Alec’s head, the only reason she hadn’t used it earlier was because it was linked to the part where she had felt pain.

But before the blow could land, another chain wrapped tightly around it, halting her movement.

“You’ve been looking down on us this whole time, saying I’d pay, spouting your shit,” Alec snarled through gritted teeth.

“Guess what? I’m not paying for anything except taking your life.”

To his right, Oni’s soul chains bound her right arm, disrupting her thoughts, while on the left Hunter’s hooked hand had snared her arm, his anti-magic domain seeped into her, preventing her from casting any mana-based defensive skills, while Oni’s chains further disoriented her mind so she won’t react swiftly to Alec.

Normally their restraints would last only a few seconds for someone of her realm, however that was all Alec needed, her body was now riddled with openings after their interception.

Without hesitation, he tore his hand free from her lower ribs and thrust it upward, claws driving deep into her chest, with her body dragged from both sides and her mind clouded.

She didn’t even register what had happened until his claws gripped her heart.

The sudden surge of pain snapped her back from the daze Oni and Hunter had forced on her, but it was already too late.

“Goodbye,” Alec growled, crushing her heart in his grasp.

Her eyes widened in disbelief, life draining from them, she had only transformed into her humanoid form to fight more freely, never realizing she had made it easier for Alec to reach her most vital weakness, her heart.

Even as death claimed her, she could hardly comprehend how it had ended so abruptly.

Her weapon was the first to hit the ground before her body slumped backward. Oni and Hunter immediately retracted their chains, but Alec’s hand still clutched the crushed heart as the Caterpillar’s corpse fell.

“Scythe,” Alec muttered, as if responding to his command the heart dissolved into blood, merging with the torrent spilling from the gaping wound in her chest, in moments, the blood condensed and crystallized, shaping into a menacing scythe.

Its curved blade gleamed with a wicked crimson light, radiating an aura of malice.

With the weapon in hand, Alec dashed toward the remaining Caterpillar that his other golems were keeping occupied.

“Spread out,” he ordered as he closed in.

The golems quickly shifted aside, clearing his path, as Alec leaped into the air, twisting the scythe as it drew in dark and blood elemental particles in the air towards it, though it was an earth element region with little pure mana to convert other elements however Alec didn’t seem to care as he was drawing on his Mana reserve to push the power of his next strike.

With a fierce horizontal swing, he unleashed a crescent-shaped slash of reddish-black qi that reeked of destruction.

The Caterpillar didn’t even attempt to defend itself this time.

For the first time, it felt genuine fear, a threat that could end its life.

Though Alec was only displaying a High Tier 6 mage realm at the moment, however his battle prowess allowed him to fight far beyond his realm, the Caterpillar, too, had strength above it’s realm, but Alec’s weapon was forged from the blood of a Tier 7 demonic beast—its very kin.

And with the second seal of the Bloody Changdao unlocked, Alec gained more than just the ability to shape weapons from blood, every weapon he created came with a bonus effect, one that harmonized with its form.

For the scythe, it grants devastating critical damage in accordance to his mastery level, making his strike with it all the more lethal.

Alec had only a few minutes left before the Tier 7 weapon prowess granted by the Caterpillar’s blood would fade, reducing the scythe back to the base strength of the Bloody Changdao, the only way to sustain that overwhelming power surge was to kill again, ideally a Tier 7 lifeform.

A Tier 6 opponent could extend it briefly, but anything weaker wouldn’t be able to maintain the augmentation.

Meanwhile, Alec’s energy eyes were still active, providing real-time analysis of the Caterpillar’s weaknesses.

He wasn’t as reliant on them now, given that the blood-forged scythe could easily breach the firepower he once lacked, but he knew that striking a revealed weak point would make finishing the beast far easier.

Sensing danger, the Caterpillar did something unexpected, it burrowed underground at blinding speed.

Bang!

A thunderous shockwave rippled across the battlefield as Alec’s destructive strike slammed into the earth, tearing open a massive crater, yet the Caterpillar’s body was nowhere to be seen.

Hovering in the air, Alec remained uncertain whether his attack had hit it or not.

“Ahhh!”

However the answer he required came swiftly.

From behind, a humanoid figure burst out of the ground, clad in armour nearly identical to the Caterpillar lady’s, but this one was male. Bulkier, taller, and wearing a massive helm, he radiated a brutal presence.

With fluid precision, he twisted and turned before he swung the enormous bone battle axe in his hand and h

urled it skyward, sending it spinning toward Alec with lethal intent.