The Golem Mage - Chapter 843

Chapter 843: Returning 2.
“Just hear me out. From what I’ve gathered, he’s Pale Zero, now one of the newly chosen of the Zero Clan. So, it makes sense that he’s reached the Tier 6 mage realm,” the mage began, pausing briefly as his friends shot him annoyed looks.

Still, he could tell they saw some logic in what he was saying.

“Even if he’s a Tier 6 mage, it’s obvious that he lacks real combat experience. He’s probably just one of those ancient clan mages stuffed with pills to push their realm higher, all Big Brother needs to do is defeat him before he consolidates his realm, think of the fame you’ll gain from it.”

The Fourth quickly wrapped up his reasoning, throwing in a few flattering words to stroke the ego of the strongest among them.

“Yeah, now that you put it that way, that makes sense, let me go teach these juniors a lesson, they should know to greet their seniors when they see them,” the leader replied, puffing up with pride after the timid fourth member’s praise.

With a foolish sense of superiority, he made up his mind to force Pale to greet him publicly as an excuse to fight, hoping to boost his image.

He didn’t dare pick fights with those he considered the real elites of the academy, those who had just graduated or those who joined the War God Mage army as battle mages or mercenaries after graduating, but bullying fresh juniors? That, he could do with pleasure.

Unfortunately for him, he picked the wrong people to mess with, as he moved toward Pale, two of his friends followed behind, while the fourth quietly stayed back, touching his neck and pretending to feel dizzy.

Though they noticed he wasn’t coming with them, they didn’t care, in their arrogance, they believed they could handle everything on their own.

As the three older students abruptly intercepted Pale and Kate, both looked at them with confusion etched across their faces.

In fact, anyone who knew them before would instantly notice the changes they had undergone, Pale and Kate not only appeared more mature, but their overall temperament had evolved drastically.

“If you don’t mind me asking, to what do we owe this honour?” Pale inquired calmly, his hands still behind his back.

He wore a regal, dark blue robe adorned with the Zero Clan emblem across the back, his silver-white hair was no longer tied in its usual ponytail, and now flowed freely, giving him an air of reserved elegance.

The moment he spoke, a group of returning first-year girls nearby squealed with excitement, clearly swooning over his refined new look.

The second-year leading the trio grew visibly irritated at the girls’ reactions.

“Your name is Pale Zero, right? Even if you’ve been promoted early to the second year, that doesn’t mean you should ignore your seniors or fail to show respect to those you met in the second year class,” he snapped.

“On behalf of the other second-year seniors, I’m here to teach you a lesson. Let’s duel.”

As the Peak Tier 5 mage finished his declaration, Pale quickly deduced that this was likely one of the second-years who rarely stayed at the academy and spent most of their time adventuring, because he didn’t recognize him at all.

Still, Pale couldn’t quite connect the dots between the mage’s accusation and his challenge, it was clear to him that the senior was twisting the narrative to justify a pointless fight.

He was clearly trying to create an excuse to attack, but Pale couldn’t understand the end goal.

He hadn’t offended anyone in a long time, so it puzzled him why someone would confront him for a duel the very moment he stepped back onto academy grounds, then he began to pick up on the whispers around him and it was obvious he wasn’t the only one hearing them.

“They’ve finally found one of the mages from the first-year team, looks like Pale’s getting into a fight early on, that mage’s lucky—he’ll claim the fifth position on the Earth Ranking just like that.”

“Well, it was bound to happen. There’s no way we, as seniors, should let a bunch of pampered newcomers rule over us. If the academy thinks we’re weak and handed them the top eleven slots, then they’d better deal with the consequences.”

Many second-year students who remained at the academy and were jealous of the prestige Alec’s team had gained muttered their bitterness openly, mocking Pale’s apparent misfortune.

As Pale listened to the spiteful chatter and realized the only reason he was being targeted was because of a new rank he was given by the academy unaware, his irritation deepened, though he was unaware of his new rank before now but he knew about the earth ranking because unlike Alec he was social type of Mage who cared about things like that.

But he hated how the mage before him tried to twist the situation to justify picking a fight.

Nothing would have pleased him more than smashing his fist into the smug senior’s face and teaching him that chasing fame without foresight could lead straight into danger, but just as he was about to act, Katie’s hand gently moved in front of him, stopping him.

He turned toward her, eyes narrowed.

“Leave them to me,” Katie said with a confident smile.

“It actually sounds fun. Besides, they’re definitely no match for you, they’ve clearly overestimated themselves.” With that, she stepped forward.

“If you want to fight Pale, you’ll have to go through me first,” Katie declared, pointing her index finger back toward Pale to make her stance clear. But the Peak Tier 5 mage facing her only snorted, tilting his head with a mocking grin tilt he could see Pale who was now behind Katie.

“I see you’ve sent your bitch to take the beating. How does it feel, hiding behind a woman, I—”

He didn’t even get to finish, as a blue flash burst before him, Katie seems to have flickered and teleported right in front of him.

Before he could even process what happened, a punch was already rocketing toward his stomach.

He raised his arms to block the blow, but the moment their fists collided, a loud crunch echoed.

His forearm cracked instantly, with bone jutting out near the elbow, though his block slowed the punch slightly, but it wasn’t still enough.

Katie’s fist still drove into his gut, launching him backward, his body flew nearly fifty meters before crashing into a statue with a resounding thud.

“Ouch,” Pale muttered behind Katie, wincing in mock sympathy before breaking into laughter at the sight of the mage sliding down the statue, groaning.

“You know,” Pale called out, voice laced with amusement,

“you really should’ve kept your mouth shut and just fought. But no, you had to spew filth—and worst of all, you picked the one insult she hates the most. Now, do you understand how it feels to hide behind a woman? Blissful, isn’t it?”

Pale mocked the mage, who had staggered back to his feet with blood trickling from the corner of his mouth.

He turned to glance at Katie, but her face was mostly obscured now, her long hair cascading down like a veil, still, even with her features hidden, she radiated an overwhelming presence.

Like Pale, she wore the robe of her clan, though it was tailored for a male, somehow, she still made it look effortlessly regal, at that moment, an immense surge of Qi erupted from her body, unleashing shockwaves that made the two nearby mages shiver uncontrollably.

“You’re all dead,” Katie said, lifting her head just enough to reveal part of her face.

Her wide pupils gleamed from behind the curtain of hair, sharp and menacing, in that instant, to the mages staring at her, it no longer felt like they were facing a fellow student, but a demon cloaked in human form.