The Golem Mage

Unlike how Alec had ensured they all entered the second gate of the Beast Forest separately, so each of them would be pushed to their limits in order to survive, he hadn’t anticipated what was happening now.

He himself was forced to face survival first, as he was facing the four current Overlord beasts in the second level of the Beast Forest, and from his time hunting there, Alec had learned that these four overlords acted as gatekeepers, making sure no other beasts surpassed them in strength.

They maintained their dominance until they reached Tier 7, at which point they would ascend to the higher realm, as the second level would reject their existence beyond that threshold, in fact Alec had seen the ascension of two previous overlord beast.

But now, these four self-proclaimed rulers of the second division were clashing directly with him, sending out a beacon-like surge of energy that pulsed through the entire dimension, that even his clansmen and new companions knew that it was crystal clear where he was.

As they began converging toward the epicenter of the clash, certain that was where they’d find him, and just like that, they were slowly reconnecting, driven by a single purpose: to reach Alec in time and help him.

—

“Oni and Sword Saint, you’re with me, the rest of you if you can’t kill your opponents, just hold them off until reinforcements arrive, pair up, two by two!” Alec gave out orders, his eyes locked on the Golden Lion King.

Without wasting another second on trying to gauge his opponent’s strength, a tactic common among other human mages and fighters, he charged forward, as he preferred learning the difference in power through battle, this is the beast forest not the real world after going through many deaths here few things really made Alec scared .

Bang!

Alec, who had spent several days in closed-door cultivation, had finally grown attuned to gravity magic, his mastery and use of it had evolved beyond using it for mere support.

He propelled himself into the air with gravity control and using the ground beneath him, by launching several earth pillars that shot upward with explosive force, this time, his ascent was faster than ever.

But he didn’t let the pillars go back into the ground and vanish, instead they followed him, circling his body mid-air like a constellation of jagged, earthen satellites.

Beside him were Oni and the Sword Saint, Alec had ordered all other minion golems to be unsummoned; because against an Overlord-class opponent, they would only serve as cannon fodder, and recreating a destroyed minion golem and retraining it to its former realm was an exhausting task Alec had no interest in repeating.

Only the Hive Queen’s guard golems remained, as they were intrinsic to her combat strength and had no qualms about self-destruction if it gave their queen even the slightest advantage, that loyalty and utility made it impossible for Alec to ask her to dismiss them.

The Golden Lion King quickly understood it was Alec Gordon who was coming for it, and with a guttural roar, it opened its maw wide and unleashed a golden, wave-like sound blast, a sonic attack, similar in principle to what Alec had just invented using his gravity magic.

Alec halted mid-air and thrust his left fist forward, using gravity magic, he distorted the air around his punch, generating a pressure wave tuned to disrupt the frequency of the incoming sound wave.

It wasn’t a pure sound-based counter, but Alec’s finely spread mana sense had helped him calculate the exact mana threshold needed to neutralize the impact.

As the golden roar faded and Alec prepared to launch his earth pillars to impale the Lion King, he suddenly realized his target had vanished.

“Fuck!” he muttered.

A golden blur tore past him in the blink of an eye, and that was when Alec understood, the Golden Lion King wasn’t just able to use sonic beast. It was also a speedster too.

Bang!

Before Alec could react, a crushing blow slammed into the back of his head, sending him hurtling into the ground, he blacked out for a few seconds before shaking himself back to awareness, and climbing out of the crater, only to see that Sword Saint and Oni had already began engaging the Golden Lion King.

Unlike earlier, the beast hadn’t entered its speedster state again, though it was still alarmingly fast, but each time the golems intercepted a swipe of its claw or palm, they were violently flung backward.

Alec’s mind snapped into analysis mode, he began to suspect the Golden Lion King couldn’t maintain its high-speed state for long, likely due to a cool down limitation of a kind, if that was true, Alec had a short window to bring the lion down before it could activate its ability again, so he doesn’t get himself overwhelmed.

“Oni, Saint, fall back, trade places with Hive Queen and Hunter. I need you two here,” Alec commanded, swapping out the golems mid-battle.

Though Oni and the Sword Saint were capable, but Alec estimated that continuing with them would only prolong the fight, and force him to use abilities he wasn’t ready to reveal.

Queen and Hunter, on the other hand, were specialized for this sort of pressure, that was the advantage of having golems tailored to specific combat roles, without hesitation, Oni and Saint retreated.

As the Golden Lion tried to pursue them, it was suddenly hit with immense pressure from above, still mid-air, it felt as though its bones were on the verge of snapping under the weight.

But the beast was too prideful to yield, it let out a furious roar, its golden mane whipping wildly, but this time even its sound wave dissolved into silence, lost within the thick field of gravitational distortion.

[> Mid Tier Spell – Gravity Push x100]

Immediately, Alec activated an upgraded version of Gravity Push, and Hunter’s left hooked arm sprang, along with a barrage of web-like strings from the Hive Queen burst forth, latching onto the Golden Lion’s body.

In the next instant, it was violently yanked from the sky and slammed into the ground.

A thunderous boom rang out, and a thick cloud of dust swallowed Alec’s view, but amidst the haze, he caught sight of that golden blur again, and it realised the Golden Lion King had re-entered its speed state, and it was coming straight for him.

[> Mid Tier Spell – Earth Dome