The Golem Mage

All seven golems Alec had summoned hardly seemed necessary—as Legion alone had stolen the entire kill.

Far behind, the Red tree’s Treant warrior group had lagged due to their limited mobility, and by the time the explosion occurred, they were still trying to catch up.

Alec wasn’t entirely sure how the Red tree had managed to survive despite the fact that it was holding all of the five cards, but one thing was certain to him—it was definitely injured, as Alec scanned the area, he noticed significantly fewer Treant warriors, leading him to believe the Red tree had a way to transfer most of the damage done to it towards to its subordinates, sacrificing them to survive the blast.

Though it lived, the Red tree wasn’t in any condition to fight despite the fact the plant race was known for their healing abilities, its Tier 7 aura fluctuated weakly, and after witnessing how effortlessly one of Alec’s golems had executed the priests, it realized just how close it had come to death.

All this time, it had assumed Alec was the one in danger—never realizing that Alec had only been restrained because of the Tier 8 mage nearby, now that Damien was gone, Alec had finally bared his fangs.

“Quick! Let’s get out of here!” the red tree shouted to its remaining subordinates.

They swiftly turned and fled, the sight of a giant tree running was comical, it was really satisfying for Alec to finally be the one watching the red tree flee.

The only regret was not being able to chase it down and repay the torment it had once inflicted on him—but Alec let it go, turning his focus to recalling his golems and storing the priests’ corpses in his space ring.

This time, Alec smiled—he had finally secured a Tier 7 corpse, even if he missed out on the lions earlier.

That alone made the mission feel like a success, seeing the grin on his face, both Arthur and Brandon exchanged awkward glances, feeling oddly unsettled by how happy he looked.

—

Meanwhile, in the sky, Damien—who was still fleeing from the enraged Snow Lion Overlord—suddenly sensed something, the life auras of his five priests had mysteriously snuffed out.

Though they were called priests, it was only because they had chosen to follow him as guard priest; if they had belonged to any formal branch of the Evil sect, they would have held the rank of bishops with their cultivation realm.

Damien rarely showed it, but he had been deeply invested in helping them break through to higher realms, hoping they’d become more useful to him in the long run, for a young and ambitious Cardinal like himself—one still lacking significant influence in the Evil sect—having strong, loyal subordinates had been a blessing.

And now, realizing that the very followers he had been grooming had all been wiped out nearly made him cough blood in rage.

Just as he was consumed by grief and anger over the loss of his fanatics, his danger sense flared again.

He swiftly twisted around instinctively, slamming his palms together as green flames erupted to form a towering wall of fire, but before the flames could even settle, a metallic shield materialized in front of him—its surface adorned with devilish skull motifs.

In the blink of an eye, a blur appeared above the defensive wall.

And a moment later, a thunderous explosion tore through the sky, the shield shattered into pieces, its fragments scattering like shrapnel, something had come crashing down from the heavens like a falling meteor—and that something was Damien himself, sent hurtling through the air with brutal force.

Hovering in mid-air where Damien had stood just moments earlier was a figure six feet tall, upper body bare and clad only in rugged, tribal-looking trousers, his body was lean, muscular, and imposing—but not in the typical chiselled, heroic way.

Instead, he radiated a raw, primal energy, like a beast wearing the shape of a man.

Long, spiky white hair flowed down to his waist, and his fingers—more like claws than human hands—glinted menacingly in the sunlight.

This fearsome and savage presence was none other than the Snow Lion Overlord, now fully transformed.

All Tier 7 demonic beasts gained the ability to assume a humanoid form, but the extent to which a demonic beast can resemble a human depends entirely on the strength of its mental power.

Most Tier 7 demonic beasts struggle in that regard and often feel their battle capabilities are hindered when in humanoid form, which they’re not accustomed to, as a result, many prefer to remain in their beast forms—except for a few races that enjoy mimicking humans to blend in society or pose as one.

“You’re too late. We’ve both been played,” Damien said, staring at the Snow Lion Overlord, who now looked more like a dangerous man than a monster.

Hearing Damien laugh while saying this caused the lion king to pause, narrowing his eyes as he once again activated his mental sense, however this time, instead of casting it widely as he did before, he focused it entirely on Damien standing before him.

What he discovered shocked him—no matter how many times he scanned, there was nothing on Damien that belonged to him, no residual aura of the power stones, no lingering trace of the stolen mana pool. Nothing.

“I swear on my pride,” the lion king growled, voice low and heavy,

“If it wasn’t you, then tell me who stole from me. Do that one thing—and I’ll spare your head today, in honour of my pride juniors you had killed.”

A chorus of lion roars echoed in the distance, growing louder as the lion king twisted his neck and smiled faintly.

“The Snow King Lion Pride is finally here,” he muttered, realizing his second-in-command—who was also his firstborn—must have sent scouts to find him, he sighed, knowing he must have caused worry among his kin.

Among all the Overlords beast, he was known as the laziest, rarely leaving the Lion Mountain. So his sudden disappearance must had certainly raised alarms.

“I’m not telling you this for mercy, I’m telling you because I want to use your rage to punish someone, and as much as you hate being used, you don’t have much choice. You’ll have to do it if you ever want to get your precious power stones and holy pool back.” Damien said coldly.

“The ones who stole your power stones were a trio of Tier 6 human mages. I’m sure you sensed their auras earlier, but you ignored them because you were too focused on me,” Damien said bitterly.

“Unfortunately, I also believed I could snatch their loot for myself, so I acted as bait to draw you in while my subordinates secured it. But now I’ve just realized—they’re all dead. Which means we’ve both been played.”

He stood from the rubble his body had smashed into during the lion overlord’s earlier strike, dust and blood clinging to his robes.

“Thank you for telling me that,” the Snow Lion King said coldly.

“Now get out of my sight. Because the next time I see you, I’ll be coming for your head.”

“You don’t have to remind me, because the next time I see you, I’ll be the one coming for your head. I swear I’ll use your power crystal to craft the most glorious spirit weapon ever made.” Damien replied, his voice laced with venom.

The sheer hatred in Damien’s tone caused the lion’s eyes to narrow dangerously.

Without a word, an enormous ice saber formed in front of him, and he swung it downward in a flash of killing intent as an enormous ice blade materialized and moved towards Damien.

The lion king didn’t care about promises anymore—Damien had made his intentions clear, and for someone like him, it was best to remove the threat before it matured, and all this was just a plus as he was deeply enraged by Damien’s comment.

But just as the blade was about to hit, a light green glow surrounded Damien’s body, as he began laughing maniacally.

“Too late… I’ve been activating a long-distance teleportation. I will co—”

Before he could finish his sentence, the green light shot into the sky, taking Damien with it and vanishing without a trace.

“Tch. He escaped,” the Snow Lion King muttered with clear irritation.

He then turned his gaze toward the direction his pride was arriving from, extending his mental sense toward the forest’s edge. There, he detected the three human auras—those who had escaped with his power stones— the true perpetrators slipping out of the forest and making their way toward the human city.