The Golem Mage

To be fair, Carmilla was doing everything she could to keep her left arm from becoming completely useless, at that moment she was manipulating the blood within her arm, forcing it to resist the invading plant energy and suppress the foreign element spreading through her shoulder.

That was the only reason her arm hadn’t exploded from the wooden parasite Endrick had activated the moment the arrow struck its target.

This particular technique was one Endrick rarely used, after Alec had given him a manual containing numerous plant-element spells fused with archery techniques, he had promised himself that he would only use them in life-and-death situations because of how brutal their effects were.

But now, he felt no need to restrain himself. After all, the bodies they were using were merely astral projections, not their real physical bodies.

While Carmilla struggled to locate him, Endrick had already taken position inside a nearby damaged building, specifically on the upper floor overlooking the battlefield; from there, he finally made his move.

His weapon had shifted into the form of a crossbow this time as he fired, the bolt shot out suddenly, however due to the fact that Carmilla was more cautious this time and the distance was not too close, she managed to react in time and attempted to dodge, but she was still a fraction too slow.

As the bolt pierced through her right hand and dragged her backward until her body slammed against the ice wall Pale had created earlier, the power behind the bolt shocked her.

The crossbow bolt embedded itself into the wall, and immediately thorny vines erupted from the projectile, binding her right arm firmly in place. She grimaced in pain and tried to raise her injured left hand despite the agony she felt to cast a defensive spell—but another bolt struck the left hand she was trying so hard to raise.

A second burst of thorny vines erupted, pinning her other arm to the wall as well.

Endrick didn’t stop there.

Two more bolts shot out, striking her legs, each impact forced a sharp cry from her as the vines burst forth again, locking her lower body firmly against the frozen surface.

When Endrick finally lowered his weapon, Carmilla looked like someone nailed to a massive wall of plants, completely restrained, the thorny vines had pierced deep into the ice and spread across its surface, ensuring there was no room for her to escape.

[ Mid-Tier Skill + Spell – Verdant Archery: Thorn Arrow ]

At that moment, Carmilla finally located Endrick, as a green blur flashed before her as he appeared directly in front of her, raising his crossbow toward her head, he could see her desperately trying to break free from the thorn restraints and tackle him, but every attempt failed.

“The more you struggle, the deeper they dig into you. Your efforts are futile. You would need to be far stronger than this to break my restraints. Goodbye,” Endrick said coldly.

“You better believe this—I’ll come back and hunt you until—” She didn’t even get to finish her sentence before Endrick released the bolt.

The arrow shot straight through her head, instantly ending her life, at that same moment, a ping sound echoed across the battlefield, signaling that Pale had successfully captured the rune point.

Endrick watched silently as Carmilla’s astral body dissipated into particles before his eyes.

_ _

While that sound rang out, the battle for the central rune had already escalated, both Connor and Kira had arrived, and with their support Damien managed to push Brandon and Lucas into a difficult position.

But then the ping sound echoed again, and they suddenly realized something, two members of the War God Mage team seemed to have mysteriously disappeared from the center, and Carmilla had also failed to show up.

Then the system notification appeared.

[ Blue Team Member Carmilla — Eliminated ]

The announcement shocked them all as they finally understood what had happened.

[ Mid Bloodline Spell – Gatling Blood Needles ]

This time Damien was completely furious, he stretched both of his hands outward, and the massive pool of blood floating above him began to shift.

Before Brandon or Lucas could break away from Connor and Kira, countless thick blood needles—each as long as a pen—formed in the air, suspended like a deadly storm waiting to fall.

Damien slowly raised his hand.

“Retreat!” Damien ordered his teammates.

But he wasn’t the only one giving orders, through voice transmission, Alec had already commanded his team to withdraw as well, in his current condition, he knew he couldn’t continue fighting for long.

Since his team had already captured the western rune, he was willing to fall back temporarily and stabilize the situation, but Dragov had no intention of letting him leave so easily, especially when he still; acted like he could survey other battlefields when they were battling together.

[ Bloodline Transformation – First Stage ]

Before Alec could disengage, Dragov suddenly appeared before him, with his massive greatsword now heavily coated with condensed Qi, slammed into Alec’s rib region with an overwhelming force far stronger than any attack Dragov had used earlier.

Clearly, his first-stage transformation had greatly increased the stat bonuses it granted him. Dragov’s body was now covered in dragon-like scales, making it appear as though he was wearing an entire set of dragon armor rather than undergoing a simple transformation.

Even his massive greatsword had changed, the hilt now glowing with a cyan hue, giving the weapon an unnaturally beautiful yet intimidating appearance.

Alec was sent crashing directly into the middle of Damien, Connor, and Kira, even as he fell he could feel his ribs completely broken.

Seeing him fall into the midst of their enemies, his teammates instinctively tried to rush toward him, but they abruptly stopped when they heard Alec’s calm command.

“Don’t come any closer. Retreat to the rune points under our control. This is an order. And don’t forget—I still have two more lives after this one. So I’ll make sure I’m not going down alone.”

Hearing those words only made them want to rush forward even more. They would gladly trade places with Alec if they could, but he had already declared it an order.

“Fall.”

Damien, who had originally been preparing to attack Brandon and Lucas, finally shifted his attention toward Alec instead, with a flick of his hand, the countless blood needles suspended in the air suddenly rained down toward him.

Damien had already calculated the situation, and he believed that eliminating Alec would be far more valuable than taking out the other two mages, seeing the deadly rain of blood needles descending toward him, Alec silently made a decision.

During his next reincarnation in this battle, he wouldn’t fight so casually, from the very beginning, he had deliberately used himself as bait to secure the central rune point, taking internal damage early in the battle.

Because of that, it had become much harder for him to draw out the full power he was capable of using, at that moment, he realized something else as well, winning right now might not even be the correct move.

He could easily transform into his Sanguine form and seize control of Damien’s blood needles to save himself, or he could shift into his werewolf form to survive the attack due to his Tier 7 Hide, but he believed that this wasn’t the right time yet.

For now, his enemies were underestimating him, believing that without his golems he would be easy to handle.

[ Mid-Tier Skill + Spell – Ember Sever ]

Alec looked up at the rain of blood needles descending toward him, a faint smile forming on his face as his gaze shifted toward the two mages standing not too far away, with a swift horizontal swing of his blade, he released a blazing arc of black flames that streaked toward Connor as time and his moves seems to enter a slow type of phase.

Connor reacted immediately, slashing forward in a diagonal motion with his claws, as a claw-shaped Qi attack shot out to intercept the incoming flames. Clearly, he believed he could withstand at least one attack from a weakened Alec.

But the next moment, all he saw was blood spraying into the air, while his right arm had been completely severed, however Alec wasn’t finished yet In a smooth motion, he raised his right hand and brought up his left to support it, gripping the hilt of the Changdao firmly with both hands.

[ Mid-Tier Skill + Spell – Ash Splitter ]

This time Alec brought his Changdao down in a powerful vertical strike, sending a narrow but devastating wave of black flames surging forward, the attack cleaved straight through Connor’s body, splitting him cleanly into two halves.

Only after the strike was completed did the rain of blood needles finally reach Alec, they pierced into him one after another.

“Ouch!” many in the crowd cried out instinctively, wincing at the brutal sight. Alec’s body now looked like a hedgehog, covered in countless blood needles, yet even after that, his smile still remained on his face.

“Explode.” Damien commanded with a flick of his fingers.

Bang!!!

The blood needles embedded in Alec’s body detonated violently.

[ Blue Team Member Connor — Eliminated ]

[ Red Team Member Alec — Eliminated ]