The Golem Mage

The Shadow Wolf Alpha struggled desperately to retreat, but it was no longer in the Dark Forest, where it could freely slip in and out of space as every angle of the dark forest had a shadow.

With Alec already locking it down, its usual mobility was crippled further.

It forced itself to focus harder on escaping, though under normal circumstances, it would have succeeded in a few seconds, but because it had to keep channeling mana into maintaining the Shadow Veil that protected its body, the energy it needed to flee was delayed.

Yet it also knew that the instant it stopped sustaining the Shadow Veil with its mana, it would die, and that was how it found itself in a deadlock that would dictate its fate.

Just as it finally managed to shake off the reddish earthen restraints clamping its limbs, the Shadow Veil itself gave in under the overwhelming pressure of Alec’s thrusting.

There was no explosive sound, no shattering like glass, it was more like fabric being torn apart, as the Blood Changdao finally pierced through.

The blade drove straight into the Shadow Wolf Alpha’s skull, sinking deep into its brain.

It had been a fraction of a second away from slipping back into the shadows, from escaping into safety. Instead, it felt the hot blood weapon rip through its head.

Even in death, disbelief flooded its fading consciousness, as it was trying to process just how could a human mage who was still in the Tier 6 realm mage to break through its skull that would have required the power of another Tier 7 to crack?

Its unyielding gaze lifted one final time to Alec, staring at the human before it that seemed to defied all its instincts and expectations, then its eyes dulled, and its consciousness fell into eternal darkness.

Alec watched as the flames coating his Blood Changdao surged into the Alpha’s body through the wound, scorching the insides of his head, not wanting to take any chances, he activated another ability of the Bloody Changdao to hasten its demise.

[> Absorb Level Up.]

[> Changdao has absorbed the blood of over a hundred high-rank lifeforms.

It has now gained Tier 7 Spirit Weapon status.]

[> Second Seal can now be activated without using the Changdao as a conduit.]

Before Alec could fully process it, the massive body of the Hive Queen came flying toward him at terrifying speed.

His left hand shot forward as he released a wave of gravity control, as purple ripples expanded outward, slowing her momentum until her body slammed into his outstretched palm.

The impact pushed him back several steps, but he held firm and guided her to a stable landing, she was barely recognizable to him as he stared at her.

Her form was torn, scorched, and fractured, and dead too.

Across from them stood the remaining Grimfang Alpha, now revealed to be a Mid Tier 7 beast in the same realm as the shadow wolf Alpha, however; it no longer looked as terrifying as before to Alec.

It too was heavily injured, though not as badly as the state it put the Hive Queen.

One of its front limbs was shattered, half of its face was burned away, the flesh charred from what could only have been the final self-destruction of the mutated Arachne.

The scorch marks ran from its skull down to its neck, and deep wounds littered the rest of its massive body.

Alec stared at it quietly.

Then he spoke.

“You did well, Hive Queen. X From now on, every other experience point i and the rest of the living golems gain will be given to the Hive Queen, and even after that, it will not stop until i have been able to help upgrade her new Queen Guard golem summons, accelerating their growth properly into the Tier 6 realm.”

After giving his praise, Alec proceeded to make his next major decision.

Once he settled everything with the system spirit, he turned and began walking toward the Grimfang Alpha.

As he moved, he realized there was still a reserve of Blood Energy within him, leftover from what the Blood Changdao inside his body had already consumed, so he swung his hands backward, pushing the remaining blood energy toward his weapon, intending to reshape it.

He believed he had gathered enough blood to construct its new form he had in his mind.

While approaching the heavily injured Grimfang Alpha, he noticed a strange gas seeping from its body but at the same time, he felt the transformation complete.

In his hand was no longer a Changdao, but a Blood Scythe.

Its blade was long and curved, with a smaller secondary blade on the opposite end, and a chain extended from the handle, which coiled around Alec’s wrist and up toward his elbow like a living serpent.

He swung the weapon outward without letting it touch the ground, gripping the chain as it thrashed through the air as his flaming aura lit up on it again.

With rapid motion, he began spinning it at tremendous speed, as a flaming ring formed around him, looking like it was housing a swirling pool of blood as the scythe carved burning arcs through the air.

As he drew closer to the Grimfang Alpha, he pushed off the ground, using his own body as the pivot of rotation, as the scythe became a crimson storm centered on his form.

“I wouldn’t be dying alone, I would make sur—” The Grimfang Alpha never finished its sentence, when Alec who had become a crimson blur passed him and whatever words he seemed intent on talking about disappeared.

In a single passing instant, the scythe sliced through the Alpha from above, cleaving its massive body cleanly in two.

Alec then landed several meters behind it, as he stretched out his right hand, and the chain twisted through the air, coiling back around his arm until the scythe’s handle slammed neatly into his grip.

While the Grimfang Alpha collapsed behind him, its body splitting apart in silence.