The Golem Mage

The moment old man Alderic entered the city, he headed straight for the city gate to question the guards responsible for checking the identification of everyone exiting the city, he needed to confirm whether Alec and his group had already left or were still within the city.

However his luck wasn’t that good, because when he asked, the black-armoured guards at the gate did describe Alec in detail because he had been there, even going on to mention that they had verified his student badge—which was clearly unique due to his Earth ranking number etched on it.

From their report, it was quite evident to Old man Alderic that Alec and his group had left the city for quite some time now, causing Alderic’s expression to darken, for both the dean and Edward, it felt strange to be so worried over a mere Tier 6 mage entering the second dimension.

Because If they had to be this concerned every time a Tier 6 entered the second dimension, then they would never find peace, even the newly appointed captain of the outpost had been dragged into the matter by Alderic.

Just as Edward was preparing to speak, a black-armoured guard came rushing towards the captain, who was still trying to reassure Alderic.

“Captain! There’s been a high-tier aura reading!” the guard announced urgently.

“Tier?” Before the captain could fully process the situation and question his junior, Alderic had already appeared beside the guard, placing a steadying hand on his shoulder as he asked for the tier of the enemy.

“Tier 8,” the guard answered, looking puzzled at Alderic’s grave concern, especially when even the captain wasn’t reacting with as much alarm.

Without hesitation, Alderic became certain that Alec and his two clansmen were somehow involved in the sudden appearance of the Tier 8 aura, the second dimension might always be a chaotic battlefield, but for some time now, the mid and high ranks had been relatively quiet since there wasn’t any wars in this passage area, only the lower ranks engaging in frequent skirmishes.

So this sudden high-tier appearance could only mean one thing to him.

The city had installed the mana reader primarily to detect incoming horde attacks that were coming for the city and to monitor the movements of high-ranking powerhouses across the regions near the city which were mostly dominated by orc tribes and cities.

Though both Edward and the dean still felt that old man Alderic was being overly paranoid about suspecting Alec’s involvement, it was simply because they were unaware of the chaos the boy had stirred during his previous two visits.

Alderic, however, had witnessed both incidents first-hand—he was even dragged into the last war himself—so this time, he wasn’t taking any chances.

“The fact that a Tier 8 is flexing his power or attacking doesn’t necessarily mean the Gordons boys are involved,” the dean tried to reason, attempting to calm Alderic, who was clearly on edge.

“Do you even know when last we recorded the fluctuations of a Tier 8? No—let me make it easier—do you know when we last even had readings of any high-ranked movement at all?” Alderic snapped, turning toward the dean.

The dean had no answer; he hadn’t kept track of such details.

Seeing this, Alderic answered his own question.

“I’ll tell you then, the last time was when Alec entered this dimension and enraged a root of a divine tree, even though that root’s powers were weak, its main body still remains a Tier 9 being on the verge of breaking through the monarch realm.”

“It might have started as a battle with a Tier 4 plant root and a Tier 4 orc chieftain, but that minor conflict due to some low rank power stone escalated into a full assault that nearly overwhelmed us as it gave the Orcs that have been waiting an excuse to attack. Fortunately, we repelled them.”

“I’m not saying the boy shouldn’t face life-and-death trials, but you don’t understand,” Alderic continued.

“That brat dances on the edge of death every time he steps into this place—yet somehow, he survives while leaving behind a trail of large-scale battles, and now, I fear another one is about to erupt. Only God knows what mess he’s going to get us into this time.”

At the same time, the dean, Edward, the black-armoured captain, and even Selena, who had tagged along with her sister, couldn’t help but wonder why the leader of the logistics department didn’t seem the least bit worried about Alec and his group.

Because if all this were all true and they were being chased by a Tier 8, someone should be panicking or rushing to organize a rescue, but there was none of that happening.

Paa!!!

Suddenly, loud alarms blared again as a red light flashed across the room, this time, the captain’s face darkened even before the mage stationed at the device relayed the report.

“A group of three carrying academy badges is approaching our location,” the mage announced.

“But there’s a problem: following closely behind them is a horde of primal signals all radiating Tier 7 and lower auras—and even more alarming, is that the one leading that group from behind has a Tier 9 aura.”

At once, everyone froze, the skepticism they held earlier toward old man Alderic evaporated instantly.

It was now obvious that the three approaching signatures belonged to the Gordons brothers, while the powerful auras behind them were the enemies they had picked up along the way.

—

Rewind back.

After Alec triggered the explosion of his random spell cards, any normal person would’ve assumed he would seize the chance to flee, but Alec did the opposite—he immediately summoned his golems into formation.

Arthur and Brandon, who had been dashing ahead, both paused and turned back, leaping onto separate tree branches to overlook the coming battle.

“Alec!” Brandon called out, about to object, but Alec simply shook his head.

“Don’t worry. I’ve got this sorted out,” Alec replied as the settling dust began to reveal the aftermath of the blast.

Of course, Alec had hoped the explosion would’ve been enough to eliminate the five priests and even the red tree lurking at the rear, however he was realistic enough to understand the true nature of Tier 7 mages.

The leap into high-rank realms wasn’t just about power; their defences were qualitatively stronger.

So killing one outright required an overwhelming gap in strength, something Alec knew just one Random spell Tier 6 card didn’t possess at the moment( each priest only had one on them).

But while that explosion wouldn’t have killed them outright, it was enough to significantly weaken the already injured high-rank priests, making them vulnerable and easier to pick off.

From the start, Alec had still deeply regretted not being able to collect the corpses of the Tier 7 lion demonic beasts outside the mine.

So when these injured priests came after him, he made up his mind to recover his losses by harvesting their bodies instead, and Alec had already confirmed they were from the Evil Sect, so he felt no guilt or hesitation for what he was about to do.

To him, they were nothing more than valuable resources, soon to be refined.

As the smoke cleared, the five priests were revealed struggling to stay on their feet, blood staining their Black robes. One of them was missing his entire right arm, blasted clean off. The surprise attack had punished them severely, catching them completely off-guard and defenceless.

But Alec wasn’t concerned with their state—he only saw opportunity.

The moment the priests raised their eyes, they were met with the sight of eight Tier 6 Golems standing before them, cold and unfeeling, under normal circumstances, they would have scoffed at such opponents, but now, weakened, exhausted, and gravely injured, they felt the icy grip of death closing in.

Only now did they realize just how badly they had underestimated Alec, who had been patiently luring them into this trap from the very beginning.

Bang!

Without giving them a chance to react, five sharp gunshots rang out.

As Legion fired clean headshots, dropping the Five priests of the evil sect instantly with deadly precision—all executed with a single rifle before anyone could even blink.