The Golem Mage

In a faraway region from the Wilderness, in the kingdom just across the great desert that separated the human region from the region of the demi-humans, the orc lords all began moving toward the main king after receiving a summons.

It was the first time the king had summoned them all in a while. In less than a few minutes, they were all present in his king’s court, the throne room.

However, it was far bigger than Alec’s throne room, and unlike the fancy iron thrones Alec had arranged around his hall on both sides, this place had wooden chairs placed throughout the room, with beast furs laid over them to make them more comfortable.

Inside the room, the bodies of demonic beasts that had been drained from all blood and meat hung from the walls, some were complete corpses, while others were only horns, skinned bones, or skulls displayed like trophies.

After arriving, all the lords under the orc king took their seats. Though he was an orc king, not all the lords under him were orcs.

There were kobolds among them, along with a few hobgoblins.

“My lords, I thank you all for answering my summons today,” the orc king began, standing with his arms spread wide before his subjects.

“But it is with great sorrow that I have called you here. To inform you all that Rathu and Orga, the ones we sent across the border, have both been killed, and our conquest to create an easy path into the human domain has been thwarted once more.”

The orc lords were all surprised after hearing that the orc lord sent into the human domain was dead, they had believed that, in the whole Wilderness domain, there should be no one strong enough to make him lose face.

So they were truly worried, trying to figure out if it was another human lord of another region that had finally decided to make a move to destroy the orc lord instead of merely watching as the orcs encroached on the human domain.

“As for the lord responsible for his death, I am unaware of who it is. However, I have been able to come to an agreement with the Werewolf King, Lobo. Since we no longer have land in the Wilderness region, his werewolves no longer need to stop the beast wave from happening again.”

“So now, the human region will begin to face the monster wave they have always feared. Once again, this time, we will use the beasts of the Wilderness region to reduce their strength before attacking them again,” the king said.

The lords under him all tactically agreed, though there were a few among the orc lords who had been close to the one who was killed. They would not have hesitated to brave the long journey just to reach the human domain and attack them directly.

However, their king had already given his verdict, and they had no choice but to abide by it.

_ _

The month finally came to an end, and the lords still on the leaderboard started receiving rewards from the kings of the regions they resided in.

Alec received ten Tier 7 cultivation pills for maintaining his first place, when he saw them, he simply kept them inside his space ring. Something like this was supposed to be rare and precious to mages in the Tier 6 realm, but Alec was nothing like a normal Tier 6 mage.

He had finally gone through some of the messages he had been avoiding, though the main reason he checked them was because Agnes told him that Lucas claimed to have sent him a message asking them to meet in the astral projection world.

However, since he knew that most of the people who texted him were only those who wanted to get to know him after he climbed to the top of the Tier 6 leaderboard, he had simply ignored them.

But now, he knew he couldn’t keep doing that forever, he shuffled through the messages and replied to the ones that he felt deserved top priority, while he planned to enter the Astral Projection World through the City Heart soon.

That way, he would be able to meet up with Lucas and Pale, who were no longer around him.

However, before that, he was planning to hunt Tier 8 demonic beasts in the beast forest in droves. They were among the hardest creatures to go against, but after merging with the Eclipse wolf, Alec was able to temporarily enter the same realm as them, allowing him to even overpower them for a short period.

Normally, he had never been that focused on the beast forest, he mostly let his golems handle the hunting nowadays while he focused on sorting out the loot and separating the useful materials.

However, Alexander, the Wilderness region king, had warned him that the orc lord he killed had been placed in this region by the orc king so they would have an easier route to invade the human domain.

Although Alexander knew about the orc king’s intentions, he still had not moved against the orc lord. This alone showed just how restrained the king ranks were when it came to attacking someone of a lower rank.

That was why he had been pushing human lords he felt were a little talented toward that area, not caring whether they survived or not. He was a selfish monarch.

While some died trying to face the orcs, others ran away, using their relationships with lords in other regions to migrate. They didn’t mind waiting and becoming someone else’s sub-lord as long as they got to keep their lives.

In fact, if Alec’s golems had not been so exceptional, the first orc invasion attack would have pierced straight into his domain, and they would have headed straight for the palace, killed him as an example, and left.

However, they ended up meeting Butcher and Oni instead, and that had most likely led to the end of their kingdom-building plans, before Alec stood Arthur and Brandon.

They would be entering the amulet world with him today, and Alec would also be pushing his spirit equipment set to the Tier 6 level.

He was preparing heavily for whatever was to come from the orcs. However, while his two brothers-in-arms were with him, he had sent Legion and Titan to defend their cities.

That meant he would be without four of his golems this time, but he did not think it would be a problem, he was just trying to drill his brothers while also gathering enough experience to enter the Tier 7 realm, putting him just one step away from Tier 8 which now seems as a must goal for him.

He summoned the roots of the Ancient Primordial Tree, and its branches shot out from within the tear they made in space towards Arthur and Brandon as they both slowly went unconscious after being pierced by the branches, while Alec also closed his eyes, preparing to join them in the amulet world.

However, while Alec was entering the amulet world, another problem was brewing right beside him, his neighbors were planning an attack.

And he was the target.